A hunt for a loose lioness on the outskirts of Berlin came to an unexpected end after authorities announced that it was likely not a lioness, but a wild boar.
The had called forth helicopters, drones, and night-vision goggle-clad officers. After experts were called in to analyze blurry cell-phone footage that prompted a two-day search, both came to the same conclusion: “We think that this photo probably shows a wild boar,” Michael Grubert, the mayor of Kleinmachnow, just southwest of the German capital, said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.
The ‘lioness chase’ began when two men captured a short, grainy video of what they believed was a lion chasing a wild boar and reported it to the police around midnight Thursday. The search began promptly and escalated swiftly.
In an attempt to determine where the lioness came from, the police called the local circus at 2 a.m.
“They asked if we were missing a lion,” said Dinara Rogall, who helps run Circus Rogall in Teltow.
Alerts quickly emerged on social media and local news stations, warning people to stay inside and cancel outdoor activities. Police searched forested areas for any signs of a lioness and prepared to shoot the animal with tranquilizer guns.
“The atmosphere was quite tense,” Uda Bastians, a resident of Kleinmachnow, said in an interview. “There weren’t many people in the street, and the people you met, everyone was a bit afraid.”
According to Ms. Bastians, on the first day of the search, there was a constant hum of helicopters. She decided not to take her dog out for walks, and instead exercised him in the garden. “Then the longer the search took, the less everyone cared,” Bastians said. Everyone was aware and didn’t go into the woods. But no one stayed in their garden for two days.
The search was called off after a resident phoned the police on Friday morning, reporting that they had seen the lion somewhere around a bush. The police flew a drone over the area and sent in a team of 30 officers equipped with heat-imaging cameras. They found nothing except a family of wild boars.
The announcement that it had been a false alarm had come as a surprise to many including Ms. Bastians. “A wild boar doesn’t really look like a lion, and we have a lot of wild boars,” she said. “Everyone has seen wild boars, and we all know lions from boars.”
Sometimes things turn out just to be a misunderstanding, but it is important to stay safe and be aware of your surroundings.
The had called forth helicopters, drones, and night-vision goggle-clad officers. After experts were called in to analyze blurry cell-phone footage that prompted a two-day search, both came to the same conclusion: “We think that this photo probably shows a wild boar,” Michael Grubert, the mayor of Kleinmachnow, just southwest of the German capital, said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.
The ‘lioness chase’ began when two men captured a short, grainy video of what they believed was a lion chasing a wild boar and reported it to the police around midnight Thursday. The search began promptly and escalated swiftly.
In an attempt to determine where the lioness came from, the police called the local circus at 2 a.m.
“They asked if we were missing a lion,” said Dinara Rogall, who helps run Circus Rogall in Teltow.
Alerts quickly emerged on social media and local news stations, warning people to stay inside and cancel outdoor activities. Police searched forested areas for any signs of a lioness and prepared to shoot the animal with tranquilizer guns.
“The atmosphere was quite tense,” Uda Bastians, a resident of Kleinmachnow, said in an interview. “There weren’t many people in the street, and the people you met, everyone was a bit afraid.”
According to Ms. Bastians, on the first day of the search, there was a constant hum of helicopters. She decided not to take her dog out for walks, and instead exercised him in the garden. “Then the longer the search took, the less everyone cared,” Bastians said. Everyone was aware and didn’t go into the woods. But no one stayed in their garden for two days.
The search was called off after a resident phoned the police on Friday morning, reporting that they had seen the lion somewhere around a bush. The police flew a drone over the area and sent in a team of 30 officers equipped with heat-imaging cameras. They found nothing except a family of wild boars.
The announcement that it had been a false alarm had come as a surprise to many including Ms. Bastians. “A wild boar doesn’t really look like a lion, and we have a lot of wild boars,” she said. “Everyone has seen wild boars, and we all know lions from boars.”
Sometimes things turn out just to be a misunderstanding, but it is important to stay safe and be aware of your surroundings.