Look I have literally no idea what was going on, but I think this is what happened?
This is from the actual video that caused all the chaos.
The really interesting thing for me is that I learned that you can have a lion in your garden without the need for a license and without anyone in the local administration knowing about it. And I mean we talk about Germany here, a country in which we absolutely have a law for everything. But because we don't really have it for keeping wild and exotic animals and the few laws that cover keeping animals in general are quite vague about exotic pets, it was absolutely possible that a lion was running around, because any stupid rich person could have bought a lion somewhere and kept the animal in his backyard even if said backyard wasn't suitable for keeping lions.
I'm not sure if that's true. There are quite a few laws and rules for keeping wild and exotic animals. There's the Bundesnaturschutzgesetz, especially § 43, the Bundesartenschutzverordnung, the Tierschutzgesetz, a Gefahrtierverordnung, European trade laws (CITES), and perhaps some additional rules of the federal state. Keeping a lion would require a lot of paperwork, and the nature conservation office and the veterinary office would definitely check if everything is done right. Unless someone manages to keep the lion in secret, illegaly, but hiding a lion would be difficult, I guess. It's easier with smaller animals like monkeys or birds. That probably happens all the time.
besidethepath
