France’s current heatwave is taking a toll on farmers, who are seeing livestock die and are racing against time to harvest cereals without sparking fires in the tinder-dry crops.
Stephane Delapre, a farmer in Beauvoir-sur-Mer, near the western coast, said half his chickens had died of suffocation on Monday.
“In 42 years, I’ve never seen that,” he told AFP as he waited for an official to collect the carcasses.
Depre raises around 17,500 free-range hens and 70,000 quails in sheds with outdoor runs.
“We put in a few fans but... it went up to 40–41C. There was nothing we could do,” he said.
