Urgent search launched for ‘unpredictable’ raccoon canine which escaped in North Wales

An ‘unpredictable’ raccoon dog has been on the loose in north Wales for weeks.

Officials have warned locals to not approach the escaped beast and to get in touch if they see it dead or alive.

The fox-like canine is native to East Asia and is considered an invasive species.

Although it is not illegal to keep raccoon dogs as pets, the RSPCA ‘strongly discourages people’ from doing so.

However it is illegal to breed and sell the ‘extremely smelly’ animals because they pose a risk to native species in Europe.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said the racoon dog was spotted near Bala Lake, by the Powys border.

But the animal is known for extensively roaming when in the wild and could have travelled a lengthy distance since it was last spotted at the end of January.

NRW said that the beast could ‘potentially be spotted more than eight miles from Llyn Tegid’.

An ‘unpredictable’ raccoon dog has been on the loose in north Wales for weeks

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said the racoon dog was spotted near Bala Lake, by the Powys border. Above, the lake and the Aran Hills in the Snowdonia National Park

Raccoon dogs can ‘negatively affect native wildlife’ and they eat small animals like rodents, birds and frogs as well as fruit insects.

In 2020, another raccoon dog was spotted in Carmarthenshire, Wales but was then captured and ‘humanely destroyed’.

Seeing a raccoon dog in the wild in Wales is considered extremely rare. 

In the summer of 2020, one was spotted in the Pumsaint area of Carmarthenshire and was later captured and ‘humanely destroyed’.