German officials launched a major search after a hunter spotted what experts say could be a puma roaming just miles from Munich Airport, and warned locals to keep children and dogs close.
Munich International Airport went on high alert after reports of a free-running big cat in the nearby countryside, with a hunter claiming to have seen the animal on Tuesday night.
The Erding district office said the sighting centered on the Notzingermoos nature reserve, only a few miles from the busy airport. Officials told the public a “credible photo” of the animal exists, and initial expert reviews pointed to a puma.
The Sun reported that terrified locals also claimed to have seen the big cat on the loose in the Erding district.
An Erding district office spokesperson stated the early assessment in plain terms.
"According to initial expert assessments, it could be a puma."
The district office also posted on Facebook that a “free running big cat” had been sighted and urged “extreme caution.” Officials told residents to keep constant watch on children playing outside and to keep dogs on a leash.
No one has said where the animal came from. The Sun noted no circuses were known to be in the area. Origin remains unknown. Capture status was not confirmed in the available accounts.
The Munich alert landed only months after another exotic-animal scare near a major German airport. In May, a tiger escaped an enclosure near Leipzig Airport in the eastern town of Schkeuditz, attacked a 72-year-old keeper, and was tracked for about 30 minutes before police shot it dead from a car roof.
Mayor Thomas Druskat called for the animal camp to be shut down and spoke to local reporters about the close call.
"It's unthinkable what might have happened if other people had been injured."
Separately, in July, three people died from malaria linked to Frankfurt Airport, a grim reminder that major hubs can become flashpoints when biosecurity and public-safety controls slip.
At Munich, the immediate job is simpler and more urgent: find the animal before a tourist-packed airport zone becomes a tragedy. Officials have a photo. They have a hunter’s sighting. They have a nature reserve a short drive from the runways. What they do not yet have, at least in public, is a confirmed capture or a clear account of how a big cat ended up free in the first place.
When wild predators turn up next to international airports, the public is right to demand hard answers, and faster results than another warning post on Facebook.
