For a while now I have been living outside of Berlin in a quaint neighbourhood called Stahnsdorf. My impuls this morning to drive into town to pop into my newspaper's office went quickly out of the window when I learned that staying at home might be more newsworthy. There is an app called NINA on my iPhone which is supposed to set off an alarm in case of floods or similar catastrophic events - this morning it had set off this warning:
"Cat of prey on the loose." The app (sceenshot below) showed me in the centre of the area in question.
I switched on the radio. There they said to stay indoors and to lock up one's pets. A big cat, apparently! A lioness! There is a circus nearby, but it quickly transpired that they were not missing any lions. Later, there was a zooogist on Berlin's local TV station, explaining that the mob, those who have made it and live in villas at the southern fringes of town, are known for keeping exotic pets illegally. They are being supplied these poor animals "from Rumanian sources", apparently. There was heavily armed police everywhere, helicopters searching the fields from above, streets and woods were cordoned off.
And me in the very center of the paramater. So my dog and I went for a little safari afternoon and later filed this report to my paper. The airgun I am carrying for ornamental reasons only. P.S.: The big cat turned out to be a wild boar.
