Residents in a suburb of Berlin have been warned to stay inside after it was announced that an escaped lioness is on the run around the neighbourhood.

Lioness on the loose in Berlin

Police in Brandenburg are conducting a search for a “large, escaped wild animal, likely a lioness” which is on the run in the Kleinmachnow, Teltow and Stahnsdorf neighbourhoods, just southwest of Berlin. 

Residents have been warned by emergency services to stay at home, not let any pets leave the house and seek shelter in a building or car if they see the escaped animal.

It is currently unclear from where the animal has come. All nearby circuses, animal parks and zoos have been contacted, but none have reported a missing lioness. 

Passersby films lioness hunting wild boar in Brandenburg

The lioness was first sighted at midnight on July 19. “Around midnight we received a report that none of us could believe,” police spokesperson Daniel Keip told rbb. The lioness was spotted by two passersby while it was chasing another animal.

“It was a wild boar and the other animal was obviously a big cat, a lioness. The two men took a video on a mobile phone and two senior police officers confirmed that the animal was likely a lioness,” Keip explained. The witnesses filmed the lioness catching and killing the wild boar in a bush.

German police believe lioness to be sleeping 

Police, one vet and two hunters are currently on the lookout for the animal and urging residents to call the emergency services if they see the animal, but only if they do actually see the animal.

It is thought that the lioness is taking a break and sleeping in a covered area during the morning. When she is caught, emergency services will sedate the animal and bring it to an animal shelter, but if a scenario occurs where the animal puts residents’ lives in danger, “we have to think about other possibilities”, said Keip.

Thumb image credit: O'sokin / Shutterstock.com