Germany news: Hedgehog triggers police alert

Germany news: Hedgehog triggers police alert August 4, 2026What you need to know - Police attending to a burglary alert at a supermarket say the cause was four-legged and lacking 'criminal energy' - Lufthansa profits have plunged in the second quarter Here is a roundup of top stories from and about Germany on Tuesday, August 4, 2026: Tired of missing our real-time updates? Click here to add DW as a Preferred Source on Google Police get surprise in supermarket callout Officers who deployed to a supermarket in the town of Mühlheim am Main in the central state of Hesse after a burglar alarm went off in the early hours of the morning did not have to deal with a dangerous criminal but a rather confused animal, police said on Tuesday. "In the entrance area of the supermarket, the police discovered who had set off the alarm: four-legged, small, round and obviously lacking any criminal energy," they wrote in a statement. "The suspected 'burglar,' caught in the act, turned out to be a hedgehog that had probably already snuck into the supermarket the day before," they said. They said the animal was shut into the store by accident at closing time and had ended up "triggering the alarm while off exploring the place." The hedgehog was briefly examined and found to be unharmed before being set free to continue its nocturnal wanderings, they said. Welcome to our coverage A schönen guten Tag from the DW newsroom in Bonn! We are deep into what in Germany is known as the Sommerloch (summer hole), or "silly season," but we will still be doing our best to bring you some interesting and entertaining reading. At a time when wars and wildfires are dominating the headlines, news of a hedgehog-triggered police deployment in central Germany could, for example, provide some welcome relief. But is relief in sight for Germany's best-known airline? The latest news on its finances shows that it is facing some major challenges. Read on for more.