Heatwave accelerates sheep shearing in Albania

A crushing heatwave has forced shepherds in southern Albania to rush forward the shearing of their sheep to save them from suffocating in their wool coats under the soaring temperatures.

In the Dukat plain, which runs from the Ceraunian Mountains to the Adriatic Sea, temperatures are already reaching 40 degrees Celsius and beyond.

The shearers have been forced to start work at dawn and finish by late morning to escape the worst of the exceptional heat.Shearing normally takes place at the end of June but the brutal change in climate has forced shepherds to bring it forward."Unexpected heatwaves can be fatal" for them, said the biologist.