More than 24 hours after the last reported sighting, German police on Friday decided to expand the search for a wild animal, believed to be a lioness, in the outskirts of Berlin.
It all started when two people saw what appeared to be a lioness chasing a wild boar on a street about three miles from the German capital on Thursday after capturing the moment on video.
#löwe in #smallmachinenow @polizeiberlin You won’t find anything like that pic.twitter.com/hZmIcNZK7j
– deer BSC (@lqzze1) July 20, 2023
The account of the two individuals, the video and the observation of police officers remain the only evidence so far of the wild animal, which feels more at home on the African savannah than on the sandy soils of East Germany.
Police continued to search for what is believed to be a lioness on the streets of suburban communities southwest of Berlin early Friday, using night vision goggles and drones. but stopped searching the woods until dawn, a spokesman said.
Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Grubert told RBB radio that animal-tracking specialists are taking part in the searches, looking for feces or remnants of blood from prey. These professionals join police officers, vets and hunters as they try to locate the animal.
Die Suche nach einer #Loewin in #Small Machnu is wieder angelaufen. https://t.co/Tg6ObWCf3G
-rbb|24 (@rbb24) July 21, 2023
However, the mayor acknowledged that the major search, which involved more than 100 police officers in addition to helicopters and thermographic cameras, drained his community’s resources. “This cannot go on for days,” he said..
Once the animal is found, it will likely be sedated with a sedative and taken to an animal shelter, Grubert said.
An RBB radio journalist said the 32 lions registered in the state of Brandenburg, outside Berlin, had been registered, leading police to question whether the animal had been illegally held captive. No owner has reported to authorities since the search began Thursday.
Despite numerous clues from citizens, including some claiming to have heard a loud roar, none of the information has so far led to the animal’s location, police said.
Local residents were advised to “practice carefully and avoid adjacent woods”, and to keep pets safe.
Anyone who crosses the big cat’s path should “seek safety immediately and call the police,” according to the Brandenburg police.
Die so night there #Few fall in love in the night erfolglos und wird heute fortgesetzt.
Falls Sie das Tier sichten, bitten wir Sie diese Information über den Nottruf 110 mitzuteilen.
-Polizei Brandenburg (@PolizeiBB) July 21, 2023
Despite sightings from passers-by and police, wildlife expert Derk Ehlert doubted whether it was really a lioness on the loose, because there has been no trace of the animal since early Thursday.
“A lioness doesn’t just disappear into thin air,” the expert told public radio.
It is not the first time that Germans have been ordered to look out for stray wild animals.
In May, residents of the central German city of Erfurt were shocked to see a kangaroo on a busy street after escaping from private property.
In 2019, it took several days for a deadly snake to be recaptured in the western town of Herne, where residents were told to keep their windows closed.
In 2016, zookeepers at Germany’s zoo had to kill a lion after it escaped from its home in the eastern city of Leipzig. No sedative could stop him.
Source: DN
