‘Big cat sighting’ mobilises German police again, but all is not what it seems
Big cat fever has gripped Berlin once more after the second report in less than a month of large lion-like animal roaming the German capital.
Berlin Police tweeted today that officers had responded to an alarm of a wild animal perched on a wall in the Dahlem area southwest of the city.
Sharing a photo of the incident the law enforcement body was keen to point out there was no danger to the public as the creature turned out to be a “stuffed animal”.
The police also said that “it was not a wild boar”, in reference to an incident less than a month ago when scores of officers and helicopters were mobilised after footage emerged of a “lioness” loose in the city on July 20.
At one stage as many as 120 police officers and wildlife experts were involved in the search. No paw prints or DNA material, such as animal waste, was found in areas where the animal was spotted.
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Later analysis from experts determined the loose lion was in fact more likely a wild boar as no zoos or private collections had reported an animal missing.
For this second “sighting”, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine reported a worried man called the police on Tuesday evening at around 6:45 pm that he had spotted a predator in Finkenpark in the Dahlem district.
A police spokesman told the paper “The caller thought it was real” but that the predator turned out to be a plush toy that was in a fenced area of a factory yard.
The police authority jokingly said it was reminded of the major search in July in Berlin around Brandenburg for a lioness, which turned out to be a wild boar.
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On Friday July 21, police completed thorough searches of woodland on both sides of the state boundary and found no indication at all of a lioness, any wild animal other than wild boars, which are common in the area, or an animal that had been killed, Kleinmachnow Mayor Michael Grubert told reporters last month.
Officials also had experts analyse a video that reportedly showed a lioness and compared the animal that was depicted with the body structure of a lioness, Grubert added.
Two experts concluded independently of each other that “this isn’t a lioness or a wild animal” and that the creature “tends toward a wild boar,” he said, adding that the rounded back and thick legs of the animal shown in the poorly lit video did not fit with it being a lioness.
“We will return to the usual vigilant program and we think there is no acute danger for Kleinmachnow or for the south of Berlin,” the mayor said, adding that police would be able to step back up straight away if the situation changes.
Grubert defended the large, 36-hour deployment, in which helicopters, drones and infrared cameras were used and vets and hunters participated, as “appropriate.”
He said at the time: “The danger of a wild animal in Kleinmachnow justifies the deployment.”
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