Lioness alert in Berlin, police in panic

Drones and helicopters were mobilized to search for wild animals on the outskirts of Berlin on Thursday after a wild animal, apparently a lioness, was reported roaming the woods away from homes.

The alert was triggered by a phone call around midnight after “two passers-by saw an animal chasing another,” Daniel Kipp, police spokesman for Brandenburg (the region around the German capital), told AFP.

“One was a wild boar and the other was apparently a lioness. Both men also recorded a video on their mobile phones and experienced police officers confirmed that it was probably a lioness,” Keep said.

Police first told residents of the German capital’s south-western districts not to leave their homes, before expanding the alert zone to outer municipalities between Berlin and Potsdam, the former city of Prussia’s kings.

Brandenburg police wrote on Twitter, “The escaped wild animal has not yet been found! Please do not leave your homes.”

A large police force participates in the search, notably with the assistance of a veterinarian and two hunters. An AFP photographer said two helicopters and a drone had also been deployed.

Residents of the area are urged to reduce their outdoor activities and not to let their pets outside. The mayor of Kleinmacho, one of the municipalities concerned, advised against “walking and jogging in the woods”.

“I was arrested by the police during my morning walk (…)”, a resident of this town of about 20,000 inhabitants told AFPTV Thorsten Thady.

He said, “I must say I was a little nervous. This is an animal of a different caliber than a normal dog. I’m going home.”

Another resident, Lutz Peters, was concerned about his “two dachshunds”. “It is probably the ideal food for a lion,” he told AFP. He said, “All night we heard the sound of helicopters (…) I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

– “Caucasian Shepherd” –

The origin of the likely escaped lioness is currently unknown. When asked by RBB radio, Brandenburg police spokesman Daniel Kipp said that “none of the animal parks, zoos and circuses have reported anyone missing”.

In an interview with Berlin daily Tagespiegel, circus director Michel Rögl, who lives in Teltow, another town adjacent to southwest Berlin, told how police woke him up at two in the morning to find out if he had a kitten.

He doubted the warning of this wild animal.

“There is no longer a lion or a tiger in any circus in the whole of Germany,” he told a German newspaper.

After watching the video shown by police, Mr Rogl said: “If that’s a lion, I’m eating my hat”. They said, “The animal is very thin and very small.”

According to him, it could be the “Caucasian Shepherd”. He said, “I have a similar dog at home, but it is still there.”

Two weeks ago, a servant, held by a man who had not reported it to the authorities, escaped from his master’s house in Bad Kreuznach (near Frankfurt), causing panic in the area, said Weir Pfoten, the German association for animal protection.

One of the runaway cats making headlines in Europe, a leopard that was stolen from Maubeuge Zoo in September 2019, escaped from the roof of a building in Armentieres (northern France) before being caught by firefighters.