UPDATE: Friday 21 July
What a boar
It’s over. The drones are no longer hovering overhead, the dogs are back in their kennels and the rifles loaded with heavy doses of ketamine are back in the veterinary surgeries. Berlin was put on high alert yesterday as police believed a dangerous wild animal – perhaps a lioness – was loose in the woods of Kleinmachnow. Now, however, another much likelier theory has emerged. It was just a wild boar.
According to a report in the Tagespiegel, experts have determined that the animal seen in the video doing the rounds yesterday was probably not a big cat feasting, but a standard wild boar scratching its back against a tree. As part of the determination, a stool sample was taken and tested for lion DNA. None was found. The public warning is now over.
This theory was already doing the rounds on twitter ahead of the official confirmation – as you can see (for German speakers) in the tweet below.
Thursday 20th July
There’s a lioness on the loose in Berlin
This is a wild one. Police are warning residents on the southern border of Berlin not to leave their homes – and certainly not to go walking in the woods – after a dangerous wild animal, possibly a lioness, was seen on the loose in the area. Witnesses have recorded videos which appear to show a big cat chasing down and killing a wild boar.
“We don’t know where it comes from,” said a spokesman for the police department. They have checked with zoos, animal parks, circuses, and animal protection facilities, and as far as they can tell, there is no missing lioness.
Daycare facilities in Kleinmachnow remain open, but they are not allowing children out into the garden. The warning extends to the areas of Kleinmachnow, Teltow, and Stahsdorf, and residents of those areas have also been advised to bring their pets indoors.