Berlin and Brandenburg
All clear: Probably not a lioness in Kleinmachnow after all
Police officers in the area of the southern state border of Berlin. photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
A lioness was searched for around 30 hours in Berlin and Brandenburg, and dozens of police officers were involved. All other clues are in vain – the supposed lioness was probably a wild boar.
The lioness you are looking for is probably a wild boar: the municipality of Kleinmachnow and the Brandenburg police no longer assume that a lioness or any other predatory animal was in Berlin or Brandenburg is on the way. There is no longer any danger, said the mayor of the Brandenburg municipality, Michael Grubert (SPD), at a press conference.
The police confirmed this assessment. All searches yielded no clues. An analysis of the well-known video also showed that there was probably no lioness to be seen on it – but probably a wild boar. “By all human judgment, we’re assuming it’s not a lioness,” Grubert said.
Doubts about the lion theory had already increased. Several experts had expressed their skepticism, such as the Berlin wildlife expert Derk Ehlert. He told RBB Inforadio that he only saw two wild boars running from left to right on the video.
“You have to make the effort”
In addition to dozens of police officers, veterinarians and the Berlin city hunter were also involved in the search. However, renewed supposed sightings of the sought-after predator and information from the population turned out to be wrong. “There isn’t a single clue that has led to any suggestion that it might be a lioness or a wildcat, a big one,” Grubert said.
At the beginning of the search, it was said that the lioness had been seen killing a wild boar. However, the remains of this animal could not be found either. “I happen to hunt in the region myself and I know that the hunters have very good dogs there. It is completely unthinkable that the dogs would not have found anything if a wild boar was actually dissected there,” said Achim Gruber, Managing Director of the Institute for Animal Pathology in Berlin, to the German Press Agency. “If a lioness had chewed up a wild boar there, the dogs would have found something.”
Despite the many unanswered questions about the story, Gruber considered the search effort justified. “The measures are justified in view of the justified initial suspicion. You have to make the effort,” said the FU expert. Police officers with submachine guns and protective shields were out and about in the forest.