Berlin and Brandenburg
Drones, hunters, trackers: How the police are looking for the runaway lioness
Watch the video: The search for a lioness in Berlin continues – residents are afraid.
There is still no trace. But the allegedly escaped lioness on the south-western edge of Berlin was also an issue on Friday night, as was the case with these residents: “Well, I’m still a bit scared. But I know that mum and dad are very close to me.” (Mother) “And the police are there too. That’s why I always had to see if the police were still there before she went to bed.” (Reporter) “And how did you feel when you heard that today?” (Mother) “Well, I didn’t think it was that bad. Last night the announcement came that we should shut windows, doors and everything. And of course I thought, this is not about an animal, but about people. And I thought that was scarier than knowing now that there might be a lioness around here somewhere. And here in the forest there are a lot of animals anyway, so of course nothing like that now. But maybe it’s not that understandable. So let’s see what’s coming. We are very excited.” A large police force is on site and the search will continue on Friday. Citizens in southern Berlin were warned not to go into the forest.
Even around 36 hours after her first sighting, the lioness on the border of Berlin and Brandenburg remains a phantom. The police are looking intensively for the animal – with sometimes unusual support.
Shortly after midnight on Monday morning, motorists filmed the animal, and around three o’clock police officers also spotted it from a patrol car and confirmed that a lioness was apparently walking around freely in Berlin. Since then, an intensive search for the animal has been going on – so far unsuccessful. There was another possible sighting on Thursday afternoon in the Berlin city area, near the southern border with Brandenburg. Due to the clues, police officers searched in the afternoon in Zehlendorf in the area of the forest cemetery – but the trail led to nothing. “There were no indications or traces that the animal was actually there,” the police said on Twitter. According to the police, there was no evidence of a lion’s roar during the night – instead, the noise turned out to be a joke by young people with a loudspeaker. “That helps neither the community nor the police,” said a police spokesman. So initially there was no trace of the animal. No blood, feces, or paw prints indicated his presence in the area.
With a large contingent, the police and fire brigade were on duty throughout Thursday. The police in Brandenburg and Berlin continued to search on Friday night. In the south of the capital, around 220 police officers are deployed in the area where there were possible sightings, a spokeswoman for the Berlin police said on Thursday evening. Veterinarians and the city hunter are involved in the search. Night vision goggles and a night vision drone should be used. The operation focused on the Zehlendorf area, where the animal may have been seen.
Police avoid forests at night because of lioness
“We watch the forests, but we don’t go into them anymore,” said a spokesman for the German Press Agency at night. “Our colleagues will remain on site at night and will continue the search tomorrow morning,” the Berlin police tweeted shortly before midnight. Around 70 emergency services continued to secure the affected area.
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At first, however, there was no trace: 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.
Community hunters and trackers in action
The municipality of Kleinmachnow wants to rely on the help of professional animal trackers – but such an operation was still unclear on Friday morning. “We have to find one first,” said the spokeswoman for the Kleinmachnow community on the search for such experts. Kleinmachnow’s Mayor Michael Grubert (SPD) said on Thursday evening on RBB that professional animal trackers should search the forest.
With a hair on a tree, which the community hunter showed on RBB television on Thursday, it was unclear where it came from. “We don’t know what it is yet,” the spokeswoman said. Wild boar also liked to rub themselves against trees. A laboratory analysis is required. The spokeswoman could not say when a result could be expected.