PODGORICA, Montenegro — Animal welfare activists in Montenegro raised the alarm this week as a record-breaking European heat wave reached the Balkans, leaving abandoned horses without shelter, water or food as temperatures approached 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), according to the Associated Press.
Several horses were seen roaming unsupervised on the outskirts of the capital, Podgorica, with no shelter, water or food. Marta Darmanovic, an animal protection activist, told the AP that the animals were not in a remote location — she said the area where they were spotted is just 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) from the city center.
Across Europe, extreme heat has shattered temperature records, strained hospitals and left people struggling to cool down. In France, this week’s temperatures have been higher than those recorded during the historic 2003 heat wave, which health authorities linked to more than 15,000 deaths, many of them among elderly people.