'Lioness' near Berlin likely a wild boar, police say

Police said on Friday that they had found no signs of a lion, or any other large predator, following a massive search around Berlin that was launched after reports of a lioness sighting on Wednesday night.

Two experts who examined the video footage that sparked the search told police that in all likelihood the animal in the video was a wild boar.

"Everything indicates it is not a lioness," Michael Grubert, the mayor of the town Kleinmachnow where the suspected lion had first been spotted, said at a press conference.

Local police in the town of Kleinmachnow and Brandenburg state police gave the all-clear that there was no lion on the loose and called off the search.

Grubert added that the animal that had been spotted was thought to be "with relative certainty" a boar.

Lion-hunt ends after over 30 hours

The police search, which included some 220 officers, had continued into Friday but the officers and various veterinarians and hunters were unable to find any traces of the suspected big cat.

The first claimed sighting of the mysterious animal came from the suburbs of the German capital. A slightly blurry video of what appeared to be a lioness in some bushes quickly gained traction online.

Authorities deemed the footage to be authentic and launched a largescale response, as well as calling on local residents to exercise caution and avoid nearby forests.

Locals were also warned to pay special attention to their pets and farm animals.

Grubert said that the massive operation had been stretching police resources after helicopters and thermal-imaging cameras were deployed alongside the hundreds of police officers. "This can't go on for days," Grubert had told public broadcaster RBB earlier.

There are around two dozen registered lions in the state of Brandenburg that borders Berlin, but all had been accounted for. This left authorities wondering if the suspected lioness had been kept illegally since nobody came forward to claim ownership.

Boars are commonplace in Germany and this is not the first time one has made headlines in Berlin. In 2020, a video went viral after a wild boar stole the laptop from a nude sunbather who was relaxing at a Berlin lake. The sunbather was filmed chasing the boar to get back his valuables.

ab/sms (dpa, AFP)

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