Somehow nobody has it easy these days, but friends of exotic animal news have to be particularly strong. Especially when you look at the calendar sheet. It’s been ten years already! Oh, what were those times when Lotti dived in the Oggenrieder Weiher and people held their breath. No, one of these won’t come back anytime soon. Lottie, never forgotten.
They haven’t forgotten Lotti in the Allgäu either. They even put up a statue in Irsee (Ostallgäu district) for the snapping turtle that bit through the Achilles tendon of a bathing boy in August 2013. So, as far as we know, experts at the time identified the wound as a turtle bite, but the associated “monster turtle” was never found, despite a major search. The pond was pumped out and fenced in. Animal traps stood on the bank and dogs sniffed. A clairvoyant was also interviewed, at least that’s what you can read in the press archive.
Because around the pond, a media parade kept their eyes open. The reporters even traveled to Irsee from abroad, although there was nothing to see except for a dry pond. This did not detract from the myth, on the contrary. Phantoms, who prefer to fool the authorities instead of being caught, have been fascinating since Robin Hood at the latest. Seen in this way, Lotti was less a filler for the summer slump and more a wonderfully innocent spectacle. And an opportunity to escape the daily constraints for a moment into the most beautiful absurdity.
And today? Lotti is and will always be missed. Animal trash connoisseurs will therefore have to make do with runaway kangaroos and cows. They’re nice news, but they’re pretty ordinary, and on the 10-to-10 summer slump scale, they’re a one to two. One could still place great hopes in the lioness, which snuck through Berlin for a short time, only in the end it turned out to be a camouflaged wild boar. After all: In Füssen, not far from Irsee, a Lotte recently made the headlines. But it was only a donkey. And she let herself be caught on her walk through town. The real Lotti was spared such a despicable end, thank God.