The police are still looking for a free-roaming big cat in Berlin and Brandenburg. Around 100 emergency services are currently employed, according to the Berlin police. During the night there was therefore no new information about the whereabouts. According to a spokeswoman in Berlin, the search is still focused on the southern districts. What exactly the measures will look like in the course of the day is not yet known. According to a spokeswoman for the West Police Department in Brandenburg, the current situation should be discussed in the early morning.
Professional animal trackers will search the forest, as the mayor of Kleinmachnow, Michael Grubert (SPD), announced on the RBB. “It can’t go on like this for days,” said Grubert, referring to the large-scale police operation.
On the night of Thursday, a free-roaming big cat is said to have been sighted in Kleinmachnow in Brandenburg on the border with Berlin. A few seconds of cell phone video from a witness shows an animal sneaking between bushes and trees. The investigating authorities consider the video to be genuine. Police officers also think they have seen the big cat “secured”, as a spokeswoman said. There were other possible sightings on Thursday afternoon and in the evening in the Berlin city area, near the southern border with Brandenburg.
According to the police, indications of lion roars have not been confirmed. “Our colleagues investigated this together with a veterinarian and the city hunter. Even with the help of a drone, the clues could not be confirmed,” tweeted the Berlin police. Maybe it was a joke from the public.
Expert: I only see two wild boars
Berlin wildlife expert Derk Ehlert is skeptical that a big cat is actually running free through Berlin and Brandenburg. He could only see two wild boars running from left to right on the well-known video, he said on Friday morning on RBB Inforadio. “But of course I believe the witnesses, the colleagues from the police in Berlin, who actually saw such an animal,” added Ehlert. Nevertheless, it makes him suspicious that no traces have been found so far. “Basically, a lion can’t just be gone, neither can a lioness. She leaves traces,” said the wildlife expert. “It is very striking that at the point where the animal was seen and filmed, not even a footprint can be seen.” Nevertheless, it could be that the animal runs around in Berlin and Brandenburg.
On Thursday evening, around 220 police officers were on duty in the Zehlendorf area, where there were possible sightings, said a police spokeswoman. Veterinarians and the city hunter were involved in the search. Night vision goggles and a night vision drone were deployed. “We watch the forests, but we don’t go into them anymore,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency at night.
So far, however, a trace is missing: Neither blood, nor faeces, nor paw prints indicated the presence of the animal in the region. From the point of view of the veterinarian Achim Gruber from the Free University of Berlin, doubts remain as to whether it is really a lioness. “I think it’s possible that it’s a lioness, but I’m not convinced,” said Gruber in the RBB special. He bet on the hunting dogs that were looking for the animal. If they don’t find any traces, this is “a strong piece of the puzzle” against the hypothesis that you are dealing with a lioness. And if it really is a lioness, then the question remains: where does she come from? At least not from the zoos, animal parks and circuses in this region, as the police found out during the night. Nobody missed a big cat there. According to Mayor Grubert, private owners are not known in Kleinmachnow.