More Experts Join Police in 2nd-day Search for Elusive Berlin Animal

Police officers look at a sign as the search continues after police warned the public that a suspected lioness was on the loose, in Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany July 20, 2023. The sign reads: "Enter at your own risk when it is snowy or icy". REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Police officers look at a sign as the search continues after police warned the public that a suspected lioness was on the loose, in Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany July 20, 2023. The sign reads: "Enter at your own risk when it is snowy or icy". REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
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More Experts Join Police in 2nd-day Search for Elusive Berlin Animal

Police officers look at a sign as the search continues after police warned the public that a suspected lioness was on the loose, in Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany July 20, 2023. The sign reads: "Enter at your own risk when it is snowy or icy". REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Police officers look at a sign as the search continues after police warned the public that a suspected lioness was on the loose, in Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany July 20, 2023. The sign reads: "Enter at your own risk when it is snowy or icy". REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

Experts on animal tracks joined the hunt Friday for an elusive and potentially dangerous animal — suspected to be a lioness — spotted on the edge of Berlin as the search stretched into a second day, authorities said.

Police used helicopters, drones and infrared cameras to search for the animal, with a vet and hunters also part of the effort, The Associated Press reported. They were first alerted to the animal in Kleinmachnow, just outside Berlin's city limits, around midnight on Wednesday when people reported what appeared to be a big cat chasing a wild boar.

The informants also provided a video. Based on that and a subsequent sighting of their own, the police concluded that the animal was apparently a lioness. But it proved elusive in the flat, wooded area on the boundary between Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg.

Kleinmachnow Mayor Michael Grubert told local public broadcaster rbb late Thursday that authorities would try to comb the forest on Friday with “professional animal track searchers.”

“We have to say that this can't carry on for days,” he said, adding that he expected the search to “intensify” on Friday.

Police in Brandenburg state tweeted Friday morning that the search was unsuccessful during the night and was continuing. They urged people to call an emergency number if they see the animal.

Police have said that none of the zoos, animal shelters, circuses or other facilities they checked was missing a lioness, and authorities say they have no information on one being privately owned in the area. Grubert says the aim is to catch the animal, if necessary by tranquilizing it.



King Charles III Shrugs off Health Scare to Begin Italy Visit

(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)
(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)
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King Charles III Shrugs off Health Scare to Begin Italy Visit

(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)
(FILES) Britain's King Charles III meets well-wishers as he arrives with Britain's Queen Camilla to visit the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, in Limavady, on March 20, 2025, during a three-day trip to Northern Ireland. Britain's King Charles III on March 27, 2025, was forced to cancel his appointments after suffering "side effects" following his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP)

King Charles III arrives in Italy on Monday for a four-day visit where he will become the first UK monarch to address Italy's joint parliament, but will not meet Pope Francis due to the pontiff's health issues.

The trip comes 10 days after Charles, 76, had his own health scare, being admitted to hospital after experiencing temporary side effects from his cancer treatment, AFP said.

Royal sources cited by the UK media said the king was "raring to go" on the trip, during which he will also celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary with wife Camilla.

Charles, who is the head of the Church of England, was scheduled to meet Pope Francis on Tuesday.

But the 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church is recovering from life-threatening pneumonia at his Vatican home, where doctors say he will need at least two months of convalescence, forcing the king to reschedule his plans.

"Their Majesties send The Pope their best wishes for his convalescence and look forward to visiting him in The Holy See, once he has recovered," said the royal family's official X account.

Francis made a surprise appearance Sunday as he mingled with crowds at the Vatican, two weeks after leaving hospital.

Charles, who is making his first visit to Italy as king, will instead spread his Rome engagements over two days, allowing "the program to breathe a bit", according to a royal source.

The couple will visit the Colosseum Archaeological Park in Rome, where they will be met by Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, his ministry has announced.

Charles will also meet Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella, and is set to become the first British monarch to address a joint sitting of the Italian parliament, according to Buckingham Palace.

'Minor bump'

The king and queen are expected to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary on Wednesday at a state banquet in Rome.

Following a decades-long affair, the couple married on April 9, 2005, at a ceremony in Windsor, followed by a religious blessing in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Charles announced he had cancer in February 2024.

Just six weeks after came the news that his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, had also been diagnosed with cancer and had begun chemotherapy.

Catherine, who is married to throne heir and Charles's eldest son, Prince William, said in January that she was now in remission.

Charles returned to work within two and a half months and gradually ramped up his duties during the rest of 2024, making several foreign trips that took him as far as Australia and Samoa.

But the Italy trip was thrown into doubt on March 27, when the palace announced Charles had been hospitalized due to side effects from his weekly treatment.

Officials said the stay of a few hours was a "minor bump" in his medical journey, and he resumed engagements last Tuesday.

Charles and Camilla will also visit Rome and Ravenna in northern Italy to celebrate "the strong bilateral relationship between Italy and the United Kingdom", the palace said.

While there, they will attend a reception marking the 80th anniversary of the region's liberation from Nazi occupation by Allied forces on April 10, 1945.