Residents in and around Berlin have been told to shelter indoors and avoid walking in the woods with a suspected wild lioness on the loose.
German authorities are on the hunt for the potentially dangerous “escaped wild” animal that is thought to be a lioness in the capital’s southern suburbs.
Police in Brandenburg state, which surrounds the capital, issued a warning in the early hours of Thursday and asked people in and around Kleinmachnow, Teltow and Stahnsdorf — just outside Berlin’s city limits — not to leave their houses and to bring their pets indoors.
Affected residents have reportedly been requested not to go for walks in the woods and children at kindergartens were not allowed into surrounding gardens. Sellers had also reportedly been advised not to set up stalls.
The warning was later extended to southern areas of Berlin and an alert was sent on an official warning app that the animal was suspected to be a lioness.
German police are asking people near Berlin to stay inside after a big cat, believed to be a lion, was seen pic.twitter.com/1tspcIikrQ
— BNO News (@BNONews) July 20, 2023
Public broadcaster rbb reported that a police operation involving a helicopter and thermal imaging cameras was underway with the help of the fire brigade.
Vets and hunters were participating in a search for the creature. Police had no immediate information on who owned it.
Two men reported seeing a big cat running after a wild boar, the latter common in and around Berlin, police spokesman Daniel Kiep told local public broadcaster rbb.
“The two gentlemen recorded a smartphone video and even experienced police officers had to confirm that it is probably a lioness,” he said, adding that there were various reported sightings.
Neither of Berlin’s two zoos nor any circuses were missing a lioness, he added.
He said that “in the summer you often hear reports of crocodiles in swimming lakes and then it turns out all it was, was a big duck. In this case it’s obviously totally real. We’re dealing with a lioness that’s roaming freely through Teltow, Stahnsdorf and Kleinmachnow.”
But Michel Rogall, a circus director in Teltow, said he would “eat my hat” if it was a lion, telling Reuters there was no circus with wild animals on the road in eastern Germany.
