The authorities announced on Monday that the first laboratory analyzes to determine the species of the animal killed in Berlin at the end of last week had almost definitively refuted the theory of the lioness and confirmed that of the boar.
• Also read: End of the alert in Berlin: the escaped lioness was probably a wild boar
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“It was determined that the only hair found had none of the known properties of cat hair,” said the small town of Kleinmachnow, southwest of Berlin, where the animal was reported.
This hair “possesses a basic stiffness,” has “a ragged end,” and happens to be “dark, almost black, at the root,” City explained in a statement.
A “fundamentally different” texture from cat hair, resembling that of lions.
“Visually, there is a lot going in the direction of wild boar hair,” adds the city and reveals the first elements of the laboratory responsible for the analysis at the Leibniz Institute for Zoological and Animal Experiments.
Due to a video that two passers-by filmed in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a lioness warning was triggered in southern Berlin. The police then believed to have seen the animal that same night.
An unprecedented hunt followed, involving more than a hundred police officers, assisted by veterinarians and hunters. Helicopters, drones and thermal imaging cameras were also used.
The warning was finally lifted on Friday when independent experts, after detailed analysis of the poor-quality video, concluded it was likely a wild boar.
However, the Leibnitz Institute is not yet “quite sure” that the animal filmed was one of the many wild boars that swarm in the forests of the German capital.
“The analyzes (of the hair) are therefore continuing, as are those of the excrement found,” the press release said. As for the latter, the first samples show a high proportion of plant matter, “contradicting the fact that it could be a primarily carnivorous animal.”