Escaped lion causes lockdown in Berlin

German police have asked residents to stay inside and bring in pets

An animal - believed to be a lioness - is on the loose just outside Berlin.

Police in Brandenburg state, which surrounds the capital, have asked residents to stay inside and bring in pets as hunters, vets, two helicopters and thermal cameras hunt for the wild animal.

Officers have been using loudspeakers to warn people in the Kleinmachnow, Teltow and Stahnsdorf areas.

The warning was later extended to southern areas of Berlin and an alert was sent on an official warning app that the animal was suspected to be a lioness.

A sniffer dog is brought in for the search (Reuters)

Police had no immediate information on who owned the animal.

Two men reported seeing a big cat running after a wild boar, the latter common in and around Berlin.

“The two gentlemen recorded a smartphone video and even experienced police officers had to confirm that it is probably a lioness,” police spokesman Daniel Kiep told local broadcaster rbb.

A police helicopter looks for the lioness from above (AFP/Getty)

A video posted on Twitter - which has not been verified - appears to show a lion in undergrowth. However, no zoos or circuses have reported missing an animal.

Police believe the animal could be sleeping in a wooded area.

“The escaping wild animal has NOT been found yet! We still ask you not to leave the house. If you see the animal, please call the emergency number 110!,” Brandenburg police tweeted.

Last year, five lions briefly escaped their enclosure at the Taronga zoo in Sydney, prompting authorities to rush overnight guests to safe zones and initiate an investigation into the “significant” safety breach.

Police officers coordinate the search for a wild animal in a residential area in Teltow, Germany (AP)

The lions walked back to their enclosure after a “code one” alert was sounded to local residents, the most severe one on the zoo’s emergency warning list.

Four years earlier, In 2018, two lions, two tigers and a jaguar escaped their enclosures after storms destroyed fences in western Germany.

The big cats were later recaptured after being found by a drone, it was reported.

Meanwhile, a puma was reportedly seen on the loose in Cornwall in 2016 after a decapitated deer and large paw prints were found near where the animal was sighted.