They are nowhere near cat size though - they fit in your hand from the description I think I’d probably go for a raccoon
I like Tanuki (my daughters loved the film) but I have never heard of any about, whereas I have heard of raccoons on the loose.
Edited to add Wikipedia tells me Tanuki were farmed intensively for their fur (ugh horrible, not farming at all) in Eastern Europe and apparently there are lots of escapees setting up home all over the place, extending their range westward. So maybe… I don’t expect people here would necessarily know what it is and might well call it raccoon.
`I have seen the same conundrum animal peacefully eating in a walnut grove close to a road, my first after 30 years in France. Online I found, yes racoons are here but I am unconvinced and think it must have been Raton
Yes been in the news a bit lately. Apparently they have spread from the Alsace region to the west of the country so will be getting out and about further I expect. At least its not skunks, you never forget the smell of a freshly killed one inside the car or. under the house.
from the description I think I’d probably go for a raccoon 