The animal was found last Sunday, with the owner of the greenhouse it was napping in saying: "It must have come to munch on the tomatoes, but instead it fell asleep."

The raccoon dog (Estonian: Kährik) is a small, stocky canid with short legs and long, coarse fur and a bushy if rather short tail, and facial features reminiscent of the unrelated North American raccoon, hence the name.

It is most closely related to the red fox, whose behavior and activity it is similar to.

The species' region of origin was the Russian Far East, China, Korea, and Japan, and it only gradually found its way to Estonia and elsewhere in Europe, thanks to human fur farming, and it has thrived to the extent that in some European countries it is considered an invasive species.

As for the Järva County find, it was the first time wild animals had been spotted in the family's garden, but no damage was done to the plants, the owner noted. As for the raccoon dog cub itself: "My husband carried it away to a field in a shovel, so the dog wouldn't harm it."

At the same time, some scientists have cautioned that raccoon dogs can propagate dangerous diseases, including Uncinaria stenocephala, which can cause skin damage in humans.

The species is omnivorous, and in autumn and winter about half of its diet consists of human-cultivated food — grains and apples, hence it being spotted in gardens sometimes. In the wild, it hunts invertebrates, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, etc., as well as forest berries and even carrion.

The animals' mating season comes in February–March and gestation lasts about two months, meaning cubs are born, in litters of around half a dozen, in April–May, with the cubs raised by both parents through to the autumn.

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