Simba becomes Pumbaa
Runaway lioness probably just a wild boar after all: the mayor gives the all-clear
See the video: Why the supposed lioness in the greater Berlin area isn’t one – the police stop searching.
In the search for an alleged lioness in Brandenburg and Berlin, there was a surprising turn on Friday. In the morning, police officers and specialists were still looking, then suddenly it was said: The lioness allegedly sighted probably never existed. Experts are now assuming that the video recordings that triggered the operation were probably a wild boar. The mayor of Kleinmachnow, Michael Grubert, showed photos that suggest this. “There is no acute risk. We decided in consultation with the police, the police assured us that they are attentive. They would also be able to start the measure again at any time if the situation changed. Also to make people available, police officers, riot police, who can then take measures again. But at the moment we will go back to the normal, attentive program. And we believe that there is no acute risk for Kleinmachnow and not for the south of Berlin either.” Grubert defended the large-scale search for a suspected lioness. “The risk situation was such that the police action was justified. Around 200 police officers from Berlin and Brandenburg were still looking for lions on Friday. Various indications of the sighting of the big cat had not been confirmed. The case also made headlines outside of Germany.
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 wanted lioness is probably a wild boar: The municipality of Kleinmachnow and the Brandenburg police no longer assume that a lioness or any other predatory animal is on the move in Berlin or Brandenburg. There is no longer any danger, said the mayor of the Brandenburg municipality, Michael Grubert (SPD), at a press conference on Friday. 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.
Berlin police stop active search for alleged lioness
The search for the possible predator near the southwestern city limits of Berlin began on Thursday night. It was triggered by a video on which a lioness was suspected. The video snippet made the rounds on social networks on Thursday. The investigating authorities assessed the video as genuine. According to a spokeswoman for the authorities, police officers said they had also seen a wild animal “secured”.
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 assumption 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, on Friday of 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.
Experts assume wild boar instead of lioness
The chairman of the Berlin Nature Conservation Union (Nabu), Rainer Altenkamp, is also convinced that the predator they are looking for is a wild boar. “Even the short, drooping tail with a loosely hairy tassel about ten centimeters long excludes a lioness,” said the wildlife expert on Friday, looking at the video recordings viewed. The other recognizable features, for example the round back and the elongated head, fit very well with a wild boar and speak against a predator, said Altenkamp. “The entire behavior is completely typical for wild boars in urban areas.”
The Berlin Nabu chairman also criticized the extensive search operations. It would be helpful for the future to set up a small team of experts for the police and authorities who have experience in identifying wild animals using photos or videos. That should be done before, as is now the case, one goes to great lengths to search for an animal that, with a probability bordering on certainty, never existed. A warning to the population should only be given when a dangerous wild animal has been proven beyond a doubt, as Altenkamp said.