No trace of the lioness that walked through Berlin because it was probably a wild boar

• Germany Drones, helicopters and 200 agents to find the lioness that walks through Berlin

The lioness that roamed the wild in the parts and forests of Berlin was probably a wild boar. After a day and a half in search of the predator with all the technical and human means at hand, the authorities have concluded that the images of the video that set off the alarms did not correspond to a lioness.

"By all human judgment, we assume it's not a lioness but a wild boar," said Michael Grubert, mayor of Kleinmachnow, a municipality near Berlin and with a large expanse of forest.

The Police, which until the last moment maintained the thesis that it was a lioness with the argument that two of its agents could see it, validates the assessment of the councilor and to which they have been adding that of veterinarians and experts in wild animals.

The first to rule out that it was a lioness however was the head of the Teltow circus, whom the police visited in the early hours of Thursday to ask if the animal was his. "No circus in Germany has lions or tigers anymore," said Michel Rogall, who also did not say he knew anyone in the region who had privately acquired a predator. "We're not in the '80s anymore, you don't even do that illegally. Word would spread immediately." The head of the circus watched the video provided by the police as evidence and that in the meantime has gone viral on social networks and said that "if that's a lion, I eat a broom."

The police asked in the two zoos in Berlin and there was also a lioness, although unlike the circus director they did not rule out that the images captured were of one. It was thought then that the lioness could belong to a private individual, but the veterinary office of the Potsdam-Mittelmark district said it had no knowledge of this, since the possession of a wild animal such as a lion would have to be registered with the authorities.

In order to get clues about the origin of the animal, police in Berlin and neighboring Brandenburg asked for help from the population via Twitter. "If you know where the wild animal was kept or where it was before its current 'excursion' through the countryside of Brandenburg and Berlin, please go to the nearest police station or dial the emergency number 110."

Meanwhile, the search operation was expanded with repeated appeals to residents of the wooded areas of southeastern Berlin and in Brandenburg not to leave their homes or lose sight of their pets. About 200 agents, helicopters and drones have been part of raids in search of the lioness, of which no clues were found for reasons that have ranged from "it will be hidden because the lions when they satiate doze up to 20 hours" to "the animal must weigh about 150 kilos, too little to leave footprints on such dry soil" passing through "it is most likely that it has moved about 10 kilometers during the night".

In the early hours of this Friday and after a long night without clues, the police received a sighting notice and those who follow their Twitter the notification of "we are in the hottest phase". Professional trackers joined the operation. Veterinarians and hunters prepared their weapons to anesthetize the animal as soon as it was in range. Nothing happened. It had been a heavy joke and not the first.

Without a trace of the lioness, without traces of her footsteps, scratches on the trees, beds in the undergrowth or some animal devoured, the thesis of the circus director gained strength. "There's not a single clue that led to any assumption that it could be a lioness or a bobcat or a large animal," Grubert said.

Several experts expressed skepticism, including Berlin wildlife expert Derk Ehlert. After repeatedly viewing the video that the police gave for authentic, he concluded that two wild boars are running from left to right.

The search for the lioness has been in vain because there was no such lioness, but the authorities consider justified the many efforts made for a happy ending. Life in the areas cordoned off for security returns to normal and Michel Rogall will not have to eat a broom.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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