European regional assessment: Not Applicable (NA)
EU 27 regional assessment: Not Applicable (NA)

The Raccoon Dog has been widely introduced outside of its historic native range, and is now widespread, and common, in northern, central and eastern Europe, and is still spreading towards the west and south (Kauhala and Kowalczyk 2011). As the species is a recent introduction to the European region, the species is considered Not Applicable for the European Red List.

The species was introduced in the early to mid-part of the 20th Century to European parts of the former Soviet Union and since then the species has become widespread in northern and eastern Europe, thriving in a landscape which is a mosaic of moist forests with abundant undergrowth, damp meadows and gardens (Kauhala et al. 2010). The northern limit of distribution lies in areas where the mean temperature of the year is just above 0°C, the snow cover <800 mm, the duration of the snow cover <175 days and the length of the growing season >135 days (for example, in Finland the northern limit of permanent distribution is between 65°N and the Arctic Circle). In recent years, when winters have become milder, the Raccoon Dog has expanded its range northwards (in Finland, up to 67°N). Raccoon Dogs appear to have been expanding their range in recent times, including a record in 2002 from the central part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (at the time the southernmost point of its European range; Ćirović 2006) and a road-kill in south-eastern Spain in 2008 (Kauhala and Kowalczyk 2011). The Raccoon Dog also occurs in Italy, although it is reported only as occasional (Loy et al. 2019, Pecorella et al. 2023).

The native range of this species extends from northern Indochina (ranging as far south as north-eastern Viet Nam, east of the Red River, and southern Yunnan province in China) through the eastern provinces of China and the Korean Peninsula to the south-east corner of Russia and Mongolia. In the Japanese Archipelago, the species is present throughout Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Awaji Island, Sado Island and other islets of Japan except those south of Kyushu (e.g., Okinawa Islands, Nansei Islands, Miyako Islands and Ogasawara Islands). Introduced to Yakushima island (S. Azuma, in Kauhala and Saeki 2004b). Absent from Hainan and Taiwan, Province of China.

The species is common in the introduced range; for example, in south-eastern Finland, the maximum population density was estimated to be about 0.77 adults/km² (Kauhala et al. 2006) and the adult population consists of 110,000-120,000 individuals (hunting bag 160,000-170,000 individuals each year). The autumn population, including the young of the year would be about 320,000.

In northeastern Germany the prebreeding population density is to be 0.95 adults/km², calculated on the basis of a large telemetry study Drygala et al. (2008). In Brandenburg, East Germany, the pre-breeding population density is estimated as 1.1 adults/km² (Sutor and Schwarz 2012). In Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland) Raccoon Dog density was 0.17-0.5 adults/km² (Kowalczyk et al. 2008). Raccoon Dogs in Białowieża reached densities of 0.7 adults/km² (Jędrzejewska and Jędrzejewski 1998, Kowalczyk et al. 2003). In Suwałki Landscape Park in northeastern Poland, Raccoon Dog density was estimated to be 0.37 adults/km² (Goszczynski 1999). In central and western Europe pre-breeding population density is generally between 0.5 and 1.0 adults/km².

In the introduced range, Raccoon Dogs favour moist meadows and other habitats with abundant undergrowth, mixed forests and shores of rivers and lakes, especially in early summer (Korneev 1954, Nasimovich and Isakov 1985, Kauhala 1996). In late summer and autumn, they favour moist heaths with abundant berries (Morozov 1947, Kauhala 1996). However, in the Finnish archipelago, they live in barren pine forests where they feed on crowberries (Empetrum nigrum) (Kauhala and Auniola 2000). In Finland, generally the best landscape for Raccoon Dogs is a landscape with abundant undergrowth, a mosaic of moist forests, damp meadows, gardens and agricultural area (Kauhala and Auttila 2010, Kauhala et al. 2010). The population is sparse in large coniferous forests.

The Raccoon Dog is an important vector and victim of rabies in Europe, with increasing significance towards the east and north. They also may be affected locally by predation from feral dogs, road kills, and from epidemics (including scabies and canine distemper virus), and in some cases may be declining due to extreme habitat loss.

The Russians introduced Raccoon Dogs into the wild in the European part of the former Soviet Union because they wanted to establish a valuable new fur animal in the wild. Raccoon Dog furs continue to be commercially sold, although today they are produced in fur farms. While the species is still commonly farmed for fur in Finland (albeit less intensively than 20-30 years ago), Raccoon Dogs are no longer farmed in Sweden or Hungary, where the last fur farm was closed in 1995. In Finland, the yearly hunting bag for 2013 was about 160,000 animals (Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute 2014). In Poland, where Raccoon Dogs are hunted from August to March, the annual bag was 450–600 in the early 1990s, but more than 11,000 are now hunted annually (Kauhala and Kowalczyk 2011). In Germany, 30,000 Raccoon Dogs were hunted in the hunting season of 2008/2009 (Anon. in Kauhala and Kowalczyk 2011).

This species is not listed in the CITES Appendices. In many countries in the introduced part of their range, where the Raccoon Dog is legally hunted, hunting is permitted year round (e.g., Sweden, Hungary). However, in Finland, females with pups are protected in May, June and July, and in Belarus hunting is allowed from 1^st October to the end of February.

Captive animals still exist on fur farms in some countries (e.g., Finland and China).