How the Hunt for a Lioness Near Berlin Turned Into a Wild Boar Chase
A frenzied hunt for a loose lioness on the outskirts of Berlin that prompted the deployment of helicopters, drones and night-vision-goggle-clad police officers came to an unexpected end after the authorities announced that it was likely a case of mistaken identity.
After experts were called in to analyze grainy cellphone footage that prompted a two-day search, they independently came to the same conclusion: “We think that this photo probably shows a wild boar,” Michael Grubert, the mayor of Kleinmachnow, just southwest of the German capital, said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.
It was an anti-climactic end to a search that captivated Germany and upended a constellation of communities on the southern edge of the city, after officials sent more than 100 police officers — equipped with riot gear, thermal imaging cameras and at least one armored vehicle — thrashing through a trio of heavily wooded towns.
The lioness-turned-pig saga began when two men captured a short, blurry video of what they believed was a lion chasing a wild boar and reported it to the police around midnight Thursday. The search began quickly and escalated rapidly.
Source: The New York Times
