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
TT
20

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.



Iconic Malian Musician Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam Dies at 70

Blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam comprising Mariam Doumbia (L) and Amadou Bagayoko perform at the Glastonbury Festival 2009 in south west England June 28, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo
Blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam comprising Mariam Doumbia (L) and Amadou Bagayoko perform at the Glastonbury Festival 2009 in south west England June 28, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo
TT
20

Iconic Malian Musician Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam Dies at 70

Blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam comprising Mariam Doumbia (L) and Amadou Bagayoko perform at the Glastonbury Festival 2009 in south west England June 28, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo
Blind Malian duo Amadou & Mariam comprising Mariam Doumbia (L) and Amadou Bagayoko perform at the Glastonbury Festival 2009 in south west England June 28, 2009. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor/File Photo

Grammy-nominated Malian musician Amadou Bagayoko, who won global fame by moulding traditional West African sounds with Western rock and pop influences as one half of the blind duo Amadou & Mariam, has died aged 70, the Malian government said.

The ministry of culture "learned with concern of the passing of artist Amadou Bagayoko this Friday," it said in a statement read on state television. "Amadou was a blind man who made his mark on the Malian and international scene."

Bagayoko was born in Bamako in 1954 and played music from an early age. He met his wife and musical partner Mariam Doumbia at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako in the 1970s, according to Radio France Internationale.

Their 2004 album "Dimanche a Bamako" (Sunday in Bamako) put them on the international map and the 2008 release "Welcome To Mali" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album, Reuters reported.

They opened for British band Coldplay in 2009, performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert that same year, when U.S. President Barack Obama was awarded the prize, and played to crowds at some of the world's biggest music festivals, including Glastonbury in the UK.

They also composed the official song for the 2006 soccer World Cup.

International artists offered their condolences online.

"Amadou! We'll always be together ... with you wherever you go," said French-born Spanish musician Manu Chao, who produced "Dimanche a Bamako".

"I will never forget his friendship," said Senegalese singer-songwriter Youssou N'Dour. "My thoughts are with my dear Mariam."