One horse died and a second collapsed while pulling passenger carriages through Seville during a record heatwave in the southern Spanish city, video footage showed, triggering an animal abuse investigation.
Bystanders tried to revive the animal that died with water after it expired on Wednesday next to a busy road, a video posted on Instagram by a member of bird welfare group Rescate de Aves showed.
The owner of the two-horse carriage, who has not been named, is being investigated for possible animal abuse, said Seville's emergency services in an Instagram statement.
"The drivers got hold of another horse and carried on with the ride in front of police who, although there was a complaint, made no move to confiscate their licence," said Rescate de Aves coordinator Carlos Moreno, whose colleague took the video.
The second horse pulling the carriage had also showed signs of dehydration but was made to continue working, he added.
His colleague said the carriage appeared to be carrying revelers attending the city's annual fair, which takes place every April and last year attracted an estimated 500,000.
Temperatures in Seville - part of Spain's hottest region - were expected to hit 36 degrees centigrade (97 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, and the city has brought in extra healthcare workers to deal with heat exhaustion during the festival.
Horse-drawn tourist carriages are a common sight in the city, where authorities have handed out more than 1,000 licences to operate them during this year's fair.
Neither Seville's assocation of horse carriage operators nor the city mayor's office or police responded to requests for comment on the horse's death.
A vet's post-mortem showed the mare been suffering from a blood-borne disease spread by ticks, aggravated by dehydration during abnormally high temperatures, the emergency services added.
In Tuesday's separate incident, another horse collapsed, according to a video posted on Twitter on Thursday by PACMA, a political party that campaigns for animal rights. Reuters could not immediately independently verify the footage.
Spain's state weather agency AEMET said this was likely to be the hottest April on the Iberian Peninsula since records began, with temperatures in some areas expected to reach 40C.
It expects this week's hot weather to peak on Thursday and Friday.
