WaPo Berlin

A more than unwelcome guest in the middle of the bathing season, acts as the prelude to a crime that leads the Berlin Water Police investigators into the world of the keepers and smugglers of exotic animals. At the same time, the water police are confronted with an exceptionally, elegantly dressed corpse with a snakebite in a damaged cargo boat, as well an escaped crocodile. More than likely from the very same boat. Will this mean a lockdown for Berlin's bathing lakes, too? With Claudia Kessler, the head of the reptile house and her assistant's help, the WaPo tries to get to the bottom of the machinations surrounding the illegal exotic animal market. Militant animal rights activists waste no time arriving at the scene either. Due to a conversation with Gisela, the landlady of the victims local, the investigators are made aware of the best friend. Even when Karsten Steiberger insists that he, above all else, is interested in important breeds, it soon becomes clear that illegal animal smuggling is a multi-million-dollar business. Our investigators soon find themselves in a network of legal and illegal species protection, the fallout of which Marlene soon begins to feel on her own body. A criminalistic solo effort unintentionally leads to making the acquaintance of free-roaming venomous snakes and tarantulas…