Police outside Berlin have called off the search for what was thought to be a lioness on the loose.Police said on Friday that they had found no signs of a lion, or any other large predator, following a massive search around Berlin that was launched after reports of a lioness sighting on Wednesday night.

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Two experts who examined the video footage that sparked the search told police that in all likelihood the animal in the video was a wild boar.

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"Everything indicates it is not a lioness," Michael Grubert, the mayor of the town Kleinmachnow where the suspected lion had first been spotted, said at a press conference.

Local police in the town of Kleinmachnow and Brandenburg state police gave the all-clear that there was no lion on the loose and called off the search.

Grubert added that the animal that had been spotted was thought to be "with relative certainty" a boar.

The police search, which included some 220 officers, had continued into Friday but the officers and various veterinarians and hunters were unable to find any traces of the suspected big cat.

The first claimed sighting of the mysterious animal came from the suburbs of the German capital. A slightly blurry video of what appeared to be a lioness in some bushes quickly gained traction online.

Authorities deemed the footage to be authentic and launched a largescale response, as well as calling on local residents to exercise caution and avoid nearby forests.

More to come...

ab/sms (dpa, AFP)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 21, 2023 05:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).