A local officer in western Germany raised a false alarm after reporting that two lions, two tigers, and a jaguar had broken out of a zoo.
ADVERTISEMENTA dramatic episode hit Germany on Friday when two lions, two tigers, a jaguar, and a bear were reported missing from a zoo.
Residents in surrounding areas were told to stay indoors, while authorities conducted a search effort for the missing animal.
But the five big cats had in fact never left their enclosures, according to the mayor of Arzfeld, Andreas Kruppert, who spoke to reporters.
Officials had lost track of them, he added, but they were found with the help of drones.
The bear was found and shot dead.
The privately owned Eifel zoo, in Lünebach, near the Belgian border, owns hundreds of animal species.
The animals reportedly broke out after their enclosures were flooded and partially destroyed during storms on Thursday.
Kruppert said the zoo was checking whether the animals could remain in their enclosures and that the zoo would take the animals to another zoo if the water damage was too great.