The lioness that was loose in the parts and forests of Berlin was probably a wild boar. After a day and a half in search of the predator with all the technical and human means at their disposal, the authorities have come to the conclusion that the video images that set off the alarms did not correspond to a lioness.
“According to all human judgment, we assume that it is not a lioness but a wild boar,” said Michael Grubert, mayor of Kleinmachnow, a municipality near Berlin and with a large area of ??forest.
The Police, who until the last moment supported the thesis that it was a lioness on the grounds that two of its agents could see it, accepts the councilor’s assessment as valid and to which that of veterinarians and experts in wild animals have been added.
The first to rule out that it was a lioness, however, was the head of the Teltow circus, whom the police visited in the early hours of Thursday to ask if the animal was his. “No circus in Germany has lions or tigers anymore,” said Michel Rogall, who also said he knew of no one in the region who had privately acquired a predator. “We’re not in the ’80s anymore, you don’t even do that illegally. Word would spread immediately.” The head of the circus watched the video that the police provided him as evidence and that in the meantime has gone viral on social networks and said that “if that is a lion, I eat a broom”.
The Police inquired at the two Berlin zoos and there was also a lioness missing, although unlike the circus director they did not rule out that the images captured were of one. It was then thought that the lioness could belong to a private individual, but the Potsdam-Mittelmark district veterinary office claimed to be unaware of this, as possession of a wild animal such as a lion would have to be registered with the authorities.
In order to obtain clues about the origin of the animal, the police in Berlin and neighboring Brandenburg asked the population for help via Twitter. “If you know where the wild animal was kept or where it was before its current ‘excursion’ through the Brandenburg countryside and Berlin, please go to the nearest police station or dial the emergency number 110.”
Meanwhile, the search operation was extended with repeated appeals to the residents of the wooded areas in the southeast of Berlin and in Brandenburg so that they did not leave their homes or lose sight of their pets. Some 200 agents, helicopters and drones have been part of raids in search of the lioness, of which no clues were found for reasons that have ranged from “it will be hidden because lions sleep for up to 20 hours when they are fed” to “the animal must weigh about 150 kilos, too little to leave footprints on such dry ground” to “most likely it has traveled about 10 kilometers during the night”.
In the early hours of this Friday and after a long night without clues, the police received a sighting notice and those who follow their Twitter the notification that “we are in the hottest phase”. Professional trackers joined the operation. Veterinarians and hunters prepared their weapons to anesthetize the animal as soon as it was within range. Nothing happened. It had been a practical joke and not the first.
With no trace of the lioness, no footprints, scratches on the trees, beds in the undergrowth or any devoured animal, the circus director’s thesis gained strength. “There is not a single clue that has led to any assumption that it could be a lioness or a bobcat or a large animal,” Grubert said.
Several experts expressed their skepticism, including Berlin wildlife expert Derk Ehlert. After repeatedly viewing the video that the Police considered authentic, he concluded that they were working with two wild boars running from left to right.
The search for the lioness has been in vain because there was no such lioness, but the authorities consider justified the many efforts made for a happy ending. Life in the areas cordoned off for security returns to normal and Michel Rogall will not have to eat a broom.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
