Authorities Warn Residents to Stay Indoors as Lioness Escapes

"Around midnight we received a notification that we couldn’t believe."

Loose Lioness

Residents of a small town southwest of Berlin, Germany are being told to stay indoors over reports of a "loose, dangerous animal" roaming the area — reportedly an escaped lioness.

As The Guardian reports, a frantic search is underway, with helicopters, drones, and thermal imaging cameras looking for the beast. Hunters are on the scene and are ready to kill the animal.

"Around midnight we received a notification that we couldn’t believe," Brandenburg police spokesperson Daniel Kiep told local broadcaster RBB. "Two passersby spotted an animal chasing after another."

"One was a wild boar and the other appeared to be a big cat, a lion," he added. "The two men recorded a video on their phones and even experienced police officers had to confirm that we are probably dealing with a lion."

Save Sarabi

Strangely, the lioness in question does not appear to be an escaped zoo animal.

"Neither an animal park, a zoo nor a circus is missing such an animal," a police spokesperson told RBB. The two zoos in Berlin itself also confirmed that no lions had escaped their enclosures.

"We are just as clueless as the veterinary's office where this lioness came from," the spokesperson added.

Not everybody is convinced onlookers saw a lioness. Michel Rogall, director of a local circus, told German newspaper Tagesspiegel it may have been a Caucasian shepherd dog instead.

"If it’s a lion I’ll eat a broom," he said.

More on lions: Watch The Lion King 2019 Movie Deepfaked As The Original