A frantic hunt for a lioness that elicited helicopters, drones, and heavily armed policemen suddenly ended when authorities said it was actually a “case of mistaken identity,” according to The New York Times.
It all started when two men captured a video of what they believed to be a lioness chasing a boar. They sent it to the police at around midnight. Then the search began. The police first asked the local circus. Dinara Rogall, who helps run Circus Rogall, said, “They asked if we are missing a lion.”
Social media and local news stations were covered with alerts saying that a lioness was on the loose. A group from a nearby zoo drove to the stakeout and prepared to shoot the lioness with tranquilizer, and a separate team of hunters gathered around as a backup.
As the first day of the search began to end, residents told the police that they heard loud roaring noises coming from the forest. Later, a German television network decided that it was simply two teenagers making loud animal sounds using a speaker. “The atmosphere was quite tense,” said Uda Bastians, a resident of Kleinmachnow, in an interview. “Everyone was a bit afraid.”
The search finally came to an end after someone reported seeing the lion. The police searched the area, but all they saw was a family of wild boars. Heribert Hofer, the director of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and a long-time resident of the Serengeti, said that the police in Berlin were used to fielding both “hoaxes and inadvertent hoaxes.” He adds that there are lots of people every year who say that crocodiles are present at the lakes where people go swimming.
Dr. Hofer analyzed the image of the “lioness.” Some of the characteristics of the animal in the video, he said, looked like the features of a wildcat. However, there were also other factors like the length of the creature’s tail and a young boar running through the frame that made people unsure what animal it truly was. Mr. Grubert, the mayor of Kleinmachnow, implored reporters to consider the risks of not taking the reports critically.
“Imagine if it had been the other way around,” he said.
It all started when two men captured a video of what they believed to be a lioness chasing a boar. They sent it to the police at around midnight. Then the search began. The police first asked the local circus. Dinara Rogall, who helps run Circus Rogall, said, “They asked if we are missing a lion.”
Social media and local news stations were covered with alerts saying that a lioness was on the loose. A group from a nearby zoo drove to the stakeout and prepared to shoot the lioness with tranquilizer, and a separate team of hunters gathered around as a backup.
As the first day of the search began to end, residents told the police that they heard loud roaring noises coming from the forest. Later, a German television network decided that it was simply two teenagers making loud animal sounds using a speaker. “The atmosphere was quite tense,” said Uda Bastians, a resident of Kleinmachnow, in an interview. “Everyone was a bit afraid.”
The search finally came to an end after someone reported seeing the lion. The police searched the area, but all they saw was a family of wild boars. Heribert Hofer, the director of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and a long-time resident of the Serengeti, said that the police in Berlin were used to fielding both “hoaxes and inadvertent hoaxes.” He adds that there are lots of people every year who say that crocodiles are present at the lakes where people go swimming.
Dr. Hofer analyzed the image of the “lioness.” Some of the characteristics of the animal in the video, he said, looked like the features of a wildcat. However, there were also other factors like the length of the creature’s tail and a young boar running through the frame that made people unsure what animal it truly was. Mr. Grubert, the mayor of Kleinmachnow, implored reporters to consider the risks of not taking the reports critically.
“Imagine if it had been the other way around,” he said.
