Was it a lioness or a wild boar? Even if it has not yet been completely clarified which wild animal caused a stir in Berlin this July, the story went around the world. A cell phone video by an eyewitness had led to a spectacular search in the German capital, including drones, helicopters and tracking dogs, but nothing was found.
Authorities soon let it be known that it could also be a wild boar, although the animal on the video didn’t look like it at all. The DNA analysis of found hair and droppings showed that it could at least not be a lioness. The ominous wild animal is likely to feed on plants. The final result of laboratory analyzes by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research is still pending.
picturedesk/dpa/Fabian Sommer The search for the supposed lioness in Berlin was unsuccessful
The “wild boar lioness” is part of a now established tradition, almost every summer an animal makes the headlines for days or weeks, and then the whole world sometimes cheers on its fate.
Florian, der Donau-Caiman
In Austria, too, there were summer hole animals, one of the better known was Florian, the Danube caiman: Unlike many other mysterious creatures, this one was actually found. The caiman was probably released at the roller ferry in Klosterneuburg in 2001. A sailor on this ferry was the first person to see the animal in the water.
Fire brigade divers finally rescued Florian, and the customs investigators began investigating the owner. After a transition phase in Schönbrunn, the caiman was transferred to a zoo in Luxembourg. But he died of an infection.
APA/Roland Schlager Florian, the caiman from the Danube, was captured by the fire brigade
The crocodile of Carinthia 2012 got a little more notoriety: while bathing on the banks of the Drau – in the fish water of the then designated FPK party chairman Kurt Scheuch – two children had sighted a supposed crocodile, which is said to have attacked them. A missing and a broken shoe served as evidence. The children sounded the alarm and caused an uproar in the entire region around the town of Sachsenburg.
After a DNA analysis of the remaining sandal, the all-clear could be given after several weeks of searching – only human traces were found. In the carnival parade that followed, Scheuch dressed up as the crocodile “Sachsi”.
27 kilograms of wool
Shrek, the merino sheep, achieved fame far beyond his own country in 2004: Shrek, who lives on a New Zealand farm, managed to avoid shearing for six years by hiding in caves. His capture and subsequent shearing were broadcast live on television.
When Shrek was finally freed from his woolen burden, he was 60 pounds lighter. Shrek became so prominent that he even met then-Prime Minister Helen Clark. In 2011, however, the sheep had to be euthanized, and it now stands stuffed in Te Papa, New Zealand’s National Museum.
Reuters The Sheep Shrek ended up in the museum after his media career
Cow Yvonne became the heroine of the summer of 2011: her urge for freedom led her to flee from the slaughterhouse, she left her stable in Mühldorf am Inn in Bavaria and apparently set out to live alone from then on. For 98 days she went solo, while the media and the public followed every sighting and attempted capture by helpers from the Gut Aiderbichl sanctuary. They tried food traps, other cattle and even a helicopter with a thermal imaging camera.
APA/dpa/Andreas Gebert Kuh Yvonne had a peaceful retirement
Only a break led to success. After a few days of no search, Yvonne allowed herself to be caught grazing on a mild August evening and drugged. She was brought to her son Friesi at Gut Aiderbichl. Yvonne spent the rest of her life – with the exception of TV appearances, for example as a World Cup oracle – peacefully on a farm in Lower Bavaria, where she was put to sleep in 2019 at the age of 14.
Even Drews could not lure Heidi
Another escaped Bavarian was kangaroo Heidi. She escaped from her enclosure in 2004, apparently out of boredom, and disappeared into the woods of the idyllic village of Eggenfelden. The animal roamed freely there for about two weeks, and all attempts by villagers and the police to catch Heidi failed. The media jumped up quickly, an Australian brewery offered a catch bonus of 500 euros.
The German Schlager bard Jürgen Drews lured Heidi – in a kangaroo costume, singing “Ein Bett im Kornfeld” camera-friendly for private television – but Heidi didn’t want to. A hunter finally spotted the kangaroo in the forest and stunned it. Heidi was brought back to her owner, nothing is known about her further fate.
Nudists hunting wild boar
In the summer of 2020, it was not a special animal that amused the public, but a photo: At that time, the wild boars were already up to mischief at the Grunewalder Teufelssee in Berlin. At a campsite, a gang of newbies stole the luggage and laptop of a group of nudists. Because the scene was captured by cell phone, it went around the world.
APA/AFP/Adele Landauer A photo goes around the world: the wild boar disappeared with the prey in the forest
The previous year was particularly important in terms of summer hole animals: in 2022, the sun-loving walrus Freya went around the world. Freya became known for repeatedly climbing on small boats around the North Sea to sunbathe. But the boats sometimes sank.
Freya was a traveller, she had been to different countries in previous years. It got its name from a competition held by a Dutch broadcaster. Freya quickly became a shooting star on social networks. But the first reports of attempted attacks on onlookers in Norway made the rounds, prompting calls for the 600-kilo animal to be shot down. Because of the danger to life and limb, Freya was actually killed by the Norwegian Fisheries Authority.
APA/AFP/NTB/Tor Erik Schrøder Freya was killed by the authorities last year
Since last year, however, some crows have been trying to destroy the glass roof of the parliament building in Vienna. The intelligent birds picked up small stones from the ground for the first time in 2022 and dropped them on the glass elements of the recently renovated house. They repeated this game again this summer, several glass elements were damaged and now had to be replaced. A summoned ornithologist attested a species-typical behavior for playful young crows – more on this in wien.ORF.at.
A query from ORF.at revealed that the parliamentary administration is now considering stretching a net. Incidentally, there have been no problems with hail to date.
AP/Hefti Brunhold The female otter steals surfboards – the authorities want to catch her
Internationally, a different summer animal came into play this year: the Californian surf otter. An aggressive female recently made life difficult for surfers off the coast of Santa Cruz. The five-year-old animal was seen on various videos attacking people and stealing their surfboards.
The scenes repeated themselves for weeks, the attacks became bolder and more dangerous. Authorities eventually classified the otter as a “risk to public safety.” A team from the California Department of Conservation and the Monterey Bay Aquarium were dispatched to capture the animal. No one has been seriously injured so far.
2023-07-30 20:41:42
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