There is no evidence of a lioness in Berlin

After searching a patch of woods on the border from Brandenburg to Berlin, one can say with certainty: “Today, July 21, there are no wild animals there,” said the mayor. There was no sign of a cunning animal or a lioness. “We haven’t seen anything but wild boar.” All clues lead nowhere. Now the process will run on a “completely normal program”. The chief of police operations for the Kleinmachnau district, Peter Wojciech, said reports from citizens gave no indication of a wild animal.

After analyzing the images from a video, experts no longer assumed it was a predator. According to the mayor, an organization has evaluated the video. Two experts said she was not a lioness or a wild animal. “There is some evidence that it is very safe to assume that what you see in the image leans towards wild boar.” Traces such as stool and hair samples are also now being examined. The mayor expects the result on Saturday.

The mayor defended the large-scale hunt for an alleged lioness. “The level of danger was such that the use of the police was justified,” he said. Not many costs are incurred to society, and this is different for the police. At first there was no further information on the amount of costs borne by the police. Chief Operating Officer Wojciech called the operation proportionate. After the first assessment, it could not be ruled out that she was a lioness. “Not all indications have been confirmed, so the dangerous situation has ended,” he added.

The hunt for the predator began Thursday night. The animal is said to have been seen and photographed in Kleinmachineau on the border with Berlin, and the video clip went viral on social networks on Thursday. The investigative authorities assessed the video as authentic. According to a spokeswoman for the authorities, the police officers said they saw the animal “in safety”. There were other possible sightings Thursday afternoon and evening in Berlin.

Doubts about Assad’s theory have already grown. Many experts have expressed their skepticism, such as Berlin wildlife expert Dirk Eilert. RBB told Inforadio that he only saw two wild boars running left to right in the video. In addition to dozens of police officers, veterinarians and a Berlin city hunter were also involved in the search. However, the supposed renewed sightings of the desired predator and information from the population turned out to be false.

At the beginning of the hunt, a lioness is said to have been seen killing a wild boar. However, the remains of this animal could not be found. “I happen to hunt in the area myself and I know the hunters have very good dogs there. It is completely inconceivable that the dogs would not have found anything if a wild boar had already been dissected there,” Achim Gruber, executive director of the Institute of Zoology in Berlin, told the dpa news agency. “If a lioness had chewed on a wild boar there, the dogs would have found something.” The expert also considered the research efforts to be justified.

This video is supposed to show the lioness