A wild boar is pictured in Berlin in November 2017 local officials in a nearby suburb said they confused one of these animals for a lioness prompting them to ask residents to stay inside as they searched for the animal two-day hunt for what they believed was a lioness at large saying the large animal may have actually been a native specimen of wild boar The creature in question was first spotted around midnight Thursday (local time) in a wooded area on the southwest outskirts of Berlin, according to a statement from the Brandenburg Police. A passer-by captured a video of what they believed was a large cat chasing a wild boar who agreed that the presence of a lioness was "considered credible." forested area between Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg carried on for over 36 hours with authorities urging residents to stay indoors and keep a close eye on their pets and children Police officers and hunters searched until early Friday for what authorities believed was an escaped lioness in Kleinmachnow veterinarians and hunters were on the scene Riot police stood by to help protect the local population Warnings were broadcast to the public via loudspeakers officials had been puzzled over the predator's origins circuses or animal rescue facilities said they were missing a feline Then, on Friday, Kleinmachnow Mayor Michael Grubert told reporters that it may not have been a lion all along A report from a German public broadcast service shows the mobile phone video of the large animal A computer analysis of the mobile phone footage revealed that the creature lacked the long, curving neck characteristic of big cats, Reuters reported. What appears to the eye as a long and bobbed tail could have just been a shadow "Following another convincing tip this morning police and hunters visited a small area of forest," the mayor added Female lions can grow to lengths of 9 feet and weigh between 265 and 395 pounds, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. A male Central European boar, in contrast, averages about 4'11" in length and might weigh up to 441 pounds, according to the European Landowners Association But the species is still dangerous to humans, with sharp teeth capable of killing hunters and harassing local residents A warning to stay indoors was lifted Friday and search efforts would be considerably scaled back police would be prepared to react if the situation changed Become an NPR sponsor Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Reports from Germany suggest that a lioness is on the loose in the suburbs of south-western Berlin Police have advised residents to stay indoors which also includes a veterinarian and two hunters armed with tranquilliser guns The first report came at about midnight on Wednesday."Two passersby saw one animal chasing another One was a wild boar and the other apparently a wild animal a lioness," Brandenburg Police spokesperson Daniel Keip told German broadcaster RBB "The men recorded a video on their phones and even experienced policemen had to concede that it was probably a lioness." He continued "You often hear reports of crocodiles in swimming lakes and then it turns out all it was We're dealing with a lioness that's roaming freely through Teltow said that an officer involved in the search has since sighted the animal although it is stressed that the authorities have yet to formally verify the reports that it is indeed a lioness on the loose Herr Grubert advised citizens not to panic but also asked that people refrained from walking The local police posted on Twitter: “Please avoid leaving the house due to an escaped wild animal in the Kleinmachnow Teltow & Stahnsdorf (PM) area and also bring your pets into the house Our colleagues are on site and checking the situation." However, according to reports, local zoos and sanctuaries have confirmed that none of their animals have escaped. Michel Rogall, a circus director in Teltow told the Tagesspiegel newspaper, "If it's a lion head of the wild animals in trade unit at global animal welfare organisation Four Paws commented: "It is very likely that the animal "This incident highlights the need for Germany to implement nationwide regulations governing the private keeping and trade of exotic animal species." Main image: Brandenburg police spokeswoman Kerstin Schroeder Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Grubert and Kleinmachnow volunteer fire department chief Alexander Scholz attend a news conference about a possible escaped lioness outside the City Hall (Rathaus) in Kleinmachnow Editor of BBC Wildlife and discoverwildlife.com Experts reach conclusion after analysing video of animal that triggered lion hunt A 30-hour search for an escaped lioness that had residents on the southern fringes of Berlin shelter in their homes and the rest of the German capital on tenterhooks has found that what was thought to be an exotic feline predator was most likely a common wild pig. After no more sightings of the big cat were reported overnight, Michael Grubert, the mayor of the municipality of Kleinmachnow, said two leading experts had analysed the video that had originally triggered the lion hunt. “With a relatively high degree of certainty the tendency is towards a wild boar,” Grubert said. “As far as it is humanly possible to judge, we are not dealing with a lion,” he added. “There is no hazardous situation. All tipoffs have led nowhere.” On Thursday morning, Brandenburg police had urged residents in three municipalities on the outskirts of Berlin via a warning app to stay indoors and bring pets and farm animals inside. In a statement to the press, police warned of a “loose, dangerous animal”, which it later identified as most likely being a lioness. Read moreOvernight, police said they had received information from two witnesses who had filmed the predator attacking and killing a wild pig. Two police officers had also seen the animal, a spokesperson claimed. Helicopters, armoured vehicles, drones, thermal-imaging cameras and more than 300 police officers spent a day and a night scouring woodlands in the area. On Thursday evening, police renewed their warning, telling people to avoid forested areas around the edges of southern Berlin. An outdoor concert in Kleinmachnow was moved indoors. At 7.30pm on Thursday the tabloid Bild reported a further sighting of the “lioness” in a wooded area in the same district, announcing an imminent showdown that never materialised. But biologists increasingly voiced scepticism about the video of the original sighting being shared on social media networks. On Friday, Grubert cited two such experts who believed that the curvature of the filmed animal’s back was too flat for a large cat. The sound of a lion roaring in the Zehlendorf district inside Berlin’s borders turned out to have been played through bluetooth speakers by a group of teenagers. “Neither helpful for the police nor the local community,” a spokesperson said. No traces of the boar that the lion was supposed to have killed were ever found. Free weekly newsletterThe most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment At 9am on Thursday, police searched another small wooded area in Kleinmachnow with drones and thermal cameras, only to disturb a family of boars. Grubert and a spokesperson for Brandenburg police on Friday morning tried to justify the 30-hour lion hunt. “The risk situation was such that it was justifiable to employ police,” Grubert said. KLEINMACHNOW, Germany — The graying activist pulls up to the scant and rusted remains of the Berlin Wall’s Checkpoint Bravo on a trendy electric bike and says that when looking back over the 25 years since the wall fell, it’s important to keep perspective. Klaus-Jurgen Warnick, 62, was here on Nov. 9, 1989, when East German guards, unsure how to deal with the thousands turning up at heavily controlled checkpoints, decided that letting people pass was a better option than opening fire. The world changed that day. The German nation, long separated between East and West, started its road to reunification, and the transformation began from a bipolar world where nuclear war seemed a real threat to one led by one superpower. But Warnick wants to make sure it’s understood that as the communists of the East massed to pass into the capitalist West, they weren’t trying to change the world. Most just wanted to peek at a forbidden land. The grandiose narratives came later. “I have friends from the old East who today can only remember that back then, they lived in a paradise, where everything was perfect inside the wall,” he said. “I also have friends from the old West who are certain that in the old days, those of us in the East walked the streets with bloody knives clenched in our teeth, spoiling for a fight, and the fall of the wall saved us. Neither view is true.” Warnick still is uncertain how to judge the change that came. “If asked today, 25 years after this moment that was going to transform our lives and fulfill our dreams, I could not truthfully say whether we’re better off or not,” he said. “It’s a matter of perspective.” Today, Ossies, as residents in the former East are called, suffer from higher unemployment and are paid less than their countrymen in the former West. Those who’ve retired find their pensions are significantly lower. Those economic realities in turn depress the former East further, leading to flight to the West. That means the East is graying faster and has fewer children. Even the soccer teams are inferior. The inequalities between East and West, 25 years later, are no place better on display than in this town on Berlin’s outskirts. This is the origin of what Germans call Kleinmachnow Syndrome — the term used to describe how Ossies suffered after reunification. Kleinmachnow Syndrome is the result of a simple ideological difference between capitalism and socialism: property ownership. In the West, it was sacrosanct. The East didn’t believe in it. As a result, when the country became one again, many East Germans lost the homes they’d lived in, many for decades, to West Germans, who had fled or abandoned them, depending on your perspective, but were able to reclaim them when Germany was unified. Eight thousand of Kleinmachnow’s 11,000 residents were forced to leave their homes after reunification. Nationwide, about 4 million of East Germany’s 17 million people were displaced. The effects, and even some legal cases, continue today. Because they had no property, Ossies have had less security, less wealth, less ability to borrow and less ability to invest. That made them poorer — and likely to remain so. In the period between the opening of the wall and reunification, Warnick, a radio engineer-turned-politician, headed committees to deal with the conflict. He managed to save his home, but, for the most part, his efforts to allow East Germans to keep what had become their homes failed. The tale of inequality began when communism took more and more control of East Germany in the 1950s. Many preferred the idea of living under American, British or French authority, or simply preferred capitalism, and they moved out in droves. In post-World War II Germany, property values were low enough that starting over was the easier option. The East German government didn’t have the money to maintain the mass of homes it then had title to, so it started assigning houses to those who stayed in the East. With a housing shortage, it urged people to build homes on garden plots when possible. While it didn’t allow property ownership, the government offered 99-year leases. In 1969, Warnick got such a lease on a garden patch. The only structure on the land was a Nazi-era prefab cottage that hadn’t been lived in or tended to since it had been left behind in 1948. “It looked like a scrap heap. I used it for firewood,” he said. “I remember the first time the former owner from West Germany showed up,” he said. It was a sunny afternoon in April 1990. The kids were growing and, needing more room, Warnick had just gotten the permits to add a second story to his house. “I was shoveling gravel for the cement. He was nice, for a while. Then he noted that I didn’t have to leave right away, I could have six months to find someplace else.” Warnick won the right to stay, after paying about $180,000 to the previous owner and lawyers. It was worth it, in the end, to have the home he built. And to be able to dream about his great-grandchildren someday staring up at the trees he had planted. “I spent years kicking myself for not changing the land records, but we were naive,” he said. “ We’d never heard of a land registry. It was a nation with no concept of land ownership. And who believes that their nation, their way of life, will collapse?” Police say a resident spotted the animal roaming around a town in Kleinmachnow, a city in the southwestern outskirts of Berlin, late Wednesday night Kimberlee Speakman is a digital writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. She has also worked in broadcast television as a reporter for Hawaii-based news station KHON2 News. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. German police have asked residents to stay inside and bring in pets I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice An animal - believed to be a lioness - is on the loose just outside Berlin Police in Brandenburg state, which surrounds the capital, have asked residents to stay inside and bring in pets as hunters two helicopters and thermal cameras hunt for the wild animal Officers have been using loudspeakers to warn people in the Kleinmachnow 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 Police had no immediate information on who owned the animal Two men reported seeing a big cat running after a wild boar “The two gentlemen recorded a smartphone video and even experienced police officers had to confirm that it is probably a lioness,” police spokesman Daniel Kiep told local broadcaster rbb A video posted on Twitter - which has not been verified - appears to show a lion in undergrowth no zoos or circuses have reported missing an animal Police believe the animal could be sleeping in a wooded area “The escaping wild animal has NOT been found yet please call the emergency number 110!,” Brandenburg police tweeted Last year, five lions briefly escaped their enclosure at the Taronga zoo in Sydney prompting authorities to rush overnight guests to safe zones and initiate an investigation into the “significant” safety breach The lions walked back to their enclosure after a “code one” alert was sounded to local residents the most severe one on the zoo’s emergency warning list Four years earlier, In 2018, two lions, two tigers and a jaguar escaped their enclosures after storms destroyed fences in western Germany The big cats were later recaptured after being found by a drone Meanwhile, a puma was reportedly seen on the loose in Cornwall in 2016 after a decapitated deer and large paw prints were found near where the animal was sighted. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Runners in Berlin were banned from hitting the trails in a forested area outside of the city on Thursday as police pursued what they thought might have been a lioness on the loose authorities on Friday discovered the phantom feline may have just been a wild boar The Daily Mail reported police officers banned a group of runners from a wooded area in the Kleinmachnow district just outside Berlin’s city limits to the southwest where the sighting of a lioness had been reported One of the police officers dispatched in the search for the animal reportedly screamed quickly!” to one of the runners as the pursuit of the feline fugitive heated up Polizeibeamte rücken in Gruppen mit Maschinenpistolen in den Wald vor. #Kleinmachnow #Loewe pic.twitter.com/p9CWt3gzk4 — NIUS (@niusde_) July 20, 2023 The search also spoiled outings for many road runners in the area was stopped by police and warned of the possible presence of a wild animal Because it’s a different calibre compared to a normal dog or another pet that has run away,” the Daily Mail reported Thaddey as saying “So I’m going to run home now.” Kleinmachnow Mayor Michael Grubert seemed to share the sentiment in a statement as the search intensified, saying this was not the time “to go jogging in the woods.” Residents in Berlin had reported hearing roars from a lioness in the middle of the night this week and there have also been several sightings of an animal fitting the description of the pawed predator each sighting ended with the animal vanishing without a trace #löwe in #kleinmachnow @polizeiberlin sucht aber findet nicht pic.twitter.com/hZmIcNZK7j — deer BSC (@lqzze1) July 20, 2023 Videos of supposed sightings shared online have fueled the belief that the animal in question was indeed a lioness A police official told local broadcaster RBB that “even experienced officers had to conclude (the animal) was probably a lioness.” On Friday, however, CNN reported that officials had called off the search for the lioness, as evidence pointed to the likelihood of the animal in question being a wild boar After a day and a night of searching woodlands south-west of Berlin, the mayor of Kleinmachnow says the Berlin lion probably wasn’t one. “With relatively high certainty the tendency is towards a wild boar”. pic.twitter.com/T9E0iIrFog — Philip Oltermann (@philipoltermann) July 21, 2023 there was not a single indication concerning a lioness or a wild animal in the area,” Mayor Grubert told reporters The search efforts included two helicopters 30 police vehicles and 100 armed officers equipped with drones and infrared cameras Get the digital edition of Running for your chosen platform: by | Jul 7, 2024 | Automotive, Marketplaces Adevinta’s Germany-based marketplaces Kleinanzeigen and Mobile.de will move their headquarters to their Berlin office at the end of this year in an effort to make themselves more attractive to both current and prospective employees The two companies — a general goods marketplace and auto marketplace respectively — are currently headquartered in Europarc Dreilinden in Kleinmachnow (Brandenburg) — just outside the city — with a lease that expires in June 2025 “The move to Berlin enables us to meet the growing demands of a modern working environment. At the same time, we are increasing the attractiveness of our company for current and future employees,” said Kleinanzeigen CEO Paul Heimann who is also head of recommerce at Adevinta The new office is in the former Oberpostdirektion, an architectural landmark built in the 1920s in the Charlottenburg district, where Adevinta opened an office for its two subsidiaries in September 2023 The close proximity to Berlin’s subway system will also enable employees to arrive by public transport saving them up to an hour of commuting time every day the world of work has changed fundamentally we had increasing difficulties in recruiting employees for our office in Kleinmachnow,” Heimann added Kleinanzeigen and Mobile.de have about 1,000 employees between them Oslo-based marketplace specialist Adevinta was recently acquired by a consortium led by private equity firms Permira and Blackstone Berlin-based general goods marketplace Kleinanzeigen has presented new features designed to make buying and selling… Buyers of used cars on Berlin-based general goods marketplace Kleinanzeigen can now directly obtain a… Oslo-based marketplaces operator Adevinta has officially unveiled its redesigned website Police used loudspeakers and emergency apps to warn people in the Kleinmachnow Teltow and Stahnsdorf areas - who were also advised to keep children and pets inside Officials said riot police had also been deployed "to protect the population" Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Laser material processing supplier HIGHYAG Lasertechnologie GmbH (HIGHYAG) opened its new facility on March 25 which is located on the Europarc Dreilinden business campus in Kleinmachnow prime minister of the federal state Brandenburg Related: II-VI Incorporated increases ownership in HighYAG to 100 percent Founded in 1995, the company's product portfolio includes laser processing heads and fiber beam delivery systems used for laser cutting, welding, and brazing the US-based company II-VI Incorporated has held a majority share in HIGHYAG II-VI Incorporated increased its stake in the company to 100 percent making the company a wholly owned subsidiary Due to rapidly expanding adoption of high-power fiber and direct-diode lasers for advanced manufacturing the company recognized that its old facility in Stahnsdorf would no longer be sufficient enough to meet demand Construction on the Kleinmachnow facility began in January 2013 and the company moved in about a year later—in mid-January 2014 The new building has a base area of approximately 5800m2 News | World A hunt for a suspected lioness has been called off after authorities found no evidence that it was in fact a big cat on the loose - and more likely a boar Local police were alerted to the animal in Kleinmachnow, just outside Berlin’s city limits after locals reported a big cat chasing a wild boar, around midnight on Tuesday. A video later emerged of the suspected lioness in a wooded area sparking a desperate hunt for the animal. Speaking on Friday, however, Michael Grubert, mayor of the Kleinmachnow area said there was no “acute danger” after experts concluded that it was likely a wild boar and that there was never any lion chasing the animal. Two experts said 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 programme 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. Extensive searches on Thursday and Friday, found no paw-prints or DNA in the area. Mr Grubert had told local public broadcaster RBB late on Thursday that authorities would try to comb the forest on Friday with “professional animal track searchers.” “We have to say that this can’t carry on for days,” he said, adding that he expected the search to “intensify” on Friday. Police have also used drones, helicopters and infrared cameras to search for the animal, with a vet and hunters also part of the effort. German armoured police had also joined the hunt in the area with the MailOnline reporting that a 300-horsepower armoured vehicle known as ‘The Survivor’, used in anti-terror operations, is being used. Met Police detective sacked after shoplifting £99 shoes from M&S PCSO denies stabbing herself for bogus damages claim Police at centre of storm amid prisons overcrowding crisis, senior officers told Mountaineer Bonita Norris reveals how to overcome everyday obstacles “The danger of a wild animal in Kleinmachnow justifies the deployment,” the mayor added said, claiming that he would act the same way “if I were in the situation today.” Prince Louis steals the show at VE Day parade as he keeps dad William looking sharp and mimics brother George Prince Louis steals show with sweet antics at VE parade VE Day 2025 fashion: best looks from the day, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Lady Victoria Starmer VE Day 2025 fashion: Princess of Wales to Lady Victoria Starmer UK tourists face major travel shake-up as Dubai airport set to close Royals watch historic flypast as huge crowds turns out for VE Day 80th anniversary  Royals watch historic Red Arrows flypast for VE Day 80th anniversary David Beckham’s 50th birthday bash in London 'shut down' by council over noise complaints David Beckham’s 50th birthday bash 'shut down' over noise complaints Police patrol during a search for a escaped lion near the village of Kleinmachnow in the south of in Berlin(Image: STRINGER/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)German police have been searching with helicopters, drones and infrared cameras as well as a vet and hunters for a lioness seen overnight on the outskirts of Berlin. Police were alerted to the animal in Kleinmachnow, just outside Berlin’s city limits, at about midnight on Tuesday by people reporting seeing a big cat chasing a wild boar. Based on a video provided by the callers and a sighting of their own, police concluded the animal is a lioness. Helicopters and 30 police cars took part in the search, which continued on Thursday afternoon. A vet and two hunters were also involved and a search with two drones and infrared cameras was underway in an area where the animal was spotted. People in Kleinmachnow, a town of about 20,000 in a flat, wooded area on the boundary between Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg, were advised to stay indoors if possible — and in any case to refrain from walks and jogs in the woods and to take dogs – at most – for short walks on a lead. Local authorities left children’s nurseries open, though they were asked not to let children outside, and scaled back the town’s weekly market. The warning was extended to neighbouring southern areas of Berlin and an alert was sent on an official warning app. On Thursday afternoon, police in the capital tweeted to say there had been a “possible sighting” of the animal just inside the city limits. “The primary aim, if at all possible, is to capture the animal, if necessary with an anaesthetic,” Kleinmachnow mayor Michael Grubert said. “Other measures will only be taken on a case-by-case basis by police officers on the ground if their own lives or those of others are endangered.” Police said they sought information on where the animal came from during the night, but none of the zoos, animals shelters, circuses or other facilities they checked was missing a lioness. Mr Grubert said there was no information on one being privately owned in the area and he did not know whether owning such an animal privately is even allowed. He said authorities consider it unlikely the animal has gone very far from where it was first sighted.