'Lioness' on the loose in Berlin as residents of German capital told to stay indoors
20 July 2023, 08:20 | Updated: 20 July 2023, 08:55
Berlin residents have been told to stay indoors after a "dangerous animal", possibly a lioness, went on the loose in the German capital.
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Police are trying to track down the animal as people to the south of the city were advised not to leave their houses and keep their pets inside.
It came after a sighting in Potsdam.
Officers and firefighters are using a helicopter and thermal imaging to find it and have been joined by vets and hunters.
"We have deployed massive forces at the site to protect the population," a police spokesperson said.
It is not clear who would own a lioness, which was caught on a phone camera by two people, and other reports of sightings have been made.
Both of Berlin's zoos said their lionesses were all accounted for and circuses have not reported any going missing.
#löwe in #kleinmachnow @polizeiberlin sucht aber findet nicht pic.twitter.com/hZmIcNZK7j
— deer BSC (@lqzze1) July 20, 2023
A big cat was spotted chasing after a wild boar, which roam the area.
Footage shows an animal moving among the plants on the side of the road, as an onlooker illuminates it with lights.
The animal starts to move before the footage, which emerged on social media, cuts off.
Brandenburg state told people in the Kleinmachnow, where the search is focused, Teltow and Stahnsdorf to be on alert.
Residents were told to avoid walking in the woods.
A spokesperson for the Kleinmachnow municipality said kindergartens were told not to go out into their gardens and market vendors were told to avoid selling from their stalls for now.
"This sort of thing doesn't happen every day," she said.
Updates to follow
