A lioness was suddenly walking the streets of a quiet town, and many people said they had seen it with their own eyes. On hearing this, the town's authorities launched a Hollywood-style search with helicopters, scores of police cars and more than a hundred police officers. In the end it emerged that there was no lioness in the town: the animal that had been seen was in fact a boar.

The uproar broke out last Wednesday (19 July) in Kleinmachnow, Germany. The town's 20,000 residents, just 14 miles from the centre of the capital Berlin, were thrown into panic by the unknown animal.

Going by a video shot by an eyewitness, police officers and everyone else assumed a lioness really was roaming the town. Security was stepped up across the town and police advised residents not to leave their homes.

The breathless search for the lioness then went on for 30 hours, combing the whole town. Unable to find it, the authorities declared the operation over. At a press conference, local mayor Michael Grubert said the unknown animal seen in the video was not a lioness but probably a wild boar.

He said the eyewitness footage had been shown to two wildlife experts, who analysed it and said the animal was not a lioness. Despite an extensive search, no lion or other big cat had been found in the town; nothing but a few wild boars had been seen in the wooded areas.

Berlin wildlife expert Rainer Altenkamp said the animal in the viral footage was a wild boar. The physical features seen in the video did not match a large cat but did match a wild boar, he said.

After the lioness was reported on Wednesday, a large search team of police, wildlife hunters and vets was formed. Several police helicopters and at least 10 drones fitted with video cameras were used in the roughly 30-hour operation.

The spot where the animal was said to have first been seen was surrounded by at least 70 police cars, and more than two hundred police officers stood guard through the night. Dogs highly skilled at picking up scents were also used.

Police also investigated reports of a lion's roar heard during the search on Thursday night. Officers later said someone may have done it as a joke or to add to the excitement, perhaps by playing a lion's roar over Bluetooth and a loudspeaker.

Citing Deutsche Welle.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.