MWEA, Kenya (AP) — As a helicopter hovers close to an elephant, trying to be as steady as possible, an experienced veterinarian cautiously takes aim.
A tranquilizer dart whooshes in the air, and within minutes the giant mammal surrenders to a deep slumber as teams of wildlife experts rush to measure its vitals and ensure it's doing OK.
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Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team relocate an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service vet with a thermometer prepares to take a temperature of an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service vet takes a temperature of an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Elephants captured by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers loaded on a truck at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team weigh an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team load an elephant into a truck at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team take records of an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Members of the public watch as Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team hold a briefing at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team cool down a sedated elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya is suffering from a problem, albeit a good one: The elephant population in the 42-square-kilometer (16-square-mile) Mwea National Reserve, east of the capital Nairobi, has flourished from its capacity of 50 to a whopping 156, overwhelming the ecosystem and requiring the relocation of about 100 of the largest land animals. It hosted 49 elephants in 1979.
According to the Kenya Wildlife Service Director General Erustus Kanga, the overpopulation in Mwea highlighted the success of conservation effort s over the last three decades.
“This shows that poaching has been low and the elephants have been able to thrive,” Kanga said.
Experts started relocating 50 elephants last week to the expansive 780-square-kilometer (301-square-mile) Aberdare National Park in central Kenya. As of Monday, 44 elephants had been moved from Mwea to Aberdare, with six others scheduled for Tuesday.
Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano oversaw the move of five of the elephants on Monday, saying: “This will go down in history as a record, as it is the biggest exercise of its kind. It is the first time we are witnessing the translocation of 50 elephants at a go.”
The process started at dawn and involved a team of more than 100 wildlife specialists, with equipment ranging from specially fitted trucks to aircraft and cruisers. A fixed-wing aircraft conducted aerial surveillance to track down herds of elephants, which naturally move in small families of about five. The craft was in constant communication with two helicopters used to herd and separate the elephants to ensure they were relocated with their family units.
Aboard one of the helicopters is a spotter, on the lookout for elephants, and a veterinarian with a tranquilizer gun.
Once an elephant is sedated, a ground team of veterinary specialists and rangers rushes to find it and clear thickets to make way for transport crews. Its vitals are monitored as another group of rangers works on lifting the massive animal, weighing hundreds of kilograms, onto specialized trucks, to be driven 120 kilometers (74 miles) to their new home.
Kanga, the wildlife service director, said the relocation also aimed at curbing human-wildlife conflict.
Boniface Mbau, a resident of the area, said: “We are very happy that the government has decided to reduce the number of elephants from the area. Due to their high numbers, they did not have enough food in the reserve, and they ended up invading our farms."
A second phase to relocate 50 other elephants is planned, but the date has not been disclosed.
The project has cost at least 12 million Kenyan shillings ($93,000), the wildlife agency said.
Kenya’s national parks and reserves are home to a variety of wildlife species and attract millions of visitors annually, making the country a tourism hotspot.
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Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team relocate an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service vet with a thermometer prepares to take a temperature of an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service vet takes a temperature of an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Elephants captured by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers loaded on a truck at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team weigh an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team load an elephant into a truck at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team take records of an elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Members of the public watch as Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team release five elephants at Aberdare National Park, located in central Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team hold a briefing at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team cool down a sedated elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others.
Authorities arrested a 50-year-old man at the site of the attack in Magdeburg on Friday evening and took him into custody for questioning. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg. officials said.
The state governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters that the death toll rose to five from a previous figure of two and that more than 200 people in total were injured.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that nearly 40 of them "are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God's mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
There were still no answers Saturday as to what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city.
Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the “Islamism of Europe.” Some described him as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Haseloff said Friday that authorities believed the man acted alone.
The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them.
Germany has suffered a string of extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August.
Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser traveled to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening. Faeser ordered flags lowered to half-staff at federal buildings across the country.
Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers swarmed around the suspect and took him into custody.
Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is located in a mall across from the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and thought at first they were fireworks. She then saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
Shaking as she described the horror of what she witnessed, she recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The number of injured people was overwhelming.
“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran back home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold," she said.
The market itself was still cordoned off Saturday with red-and-white tape and police vans every 50 meters (yards). Police with machine pistols guarded every entry to the market. Some thermal security blankets still lay on the street.
Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Aboubakr reported from Cairo and Gera from Warsaw, Poland. Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.
Two firefighters walk through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police stand at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, after a driver plowed into a group of people at the market late Friday. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
A damaged car sits with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Police officers and police emergency vehicles are seen at the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A barrier tape and police vehicles are seen in front of the entrance to the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Sebastian Kahnert/dpa via AP)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People mourn in front of St. John's Church for the victims of Friday's attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)
Police tape cordons-off a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer stands guard at at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Police officers patrol a cordoned-off area at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, center, is flanked by Tamara Zieschang, Minister of the Interior and Sport of Saxony-Anhalt, left, and Simone Borris, Mayor of the City of Magdeburg, at a press conference after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Dörthe Hein/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
Emergency services attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
In this screen grab image from video, special police forces attend an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)
Reiner Haseloff (M, CDU), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, makes a statement after an incident at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer speaks with a man at a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A policeman is seen at the Christmas market where an incident happened in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A firefighter walks through a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after a car drove into a crowd in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Emergency services work in a cordoned-off area near a Christmas Market, after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (Heiko Rebsch/dpa via AP)
A police officer guards at a blocked road near a Christmas market after an incident in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Security guards stand in front of a cordoned-off Christmas Market after a car crashed into a crowd of people, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The car that was crashed into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday early morning, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Forensics work on a damaged car sitting with its doors open after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, early Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)
