Srinagar, May 24 -- I never thought I'd see a cow pant like a dog. But this scorching spring, I did.

She stood in the corner of a shed, foam collecting around her mouth, chest heaving, eyes dull.

It was 2 p.m., and the tin roof above her trapped the heat like an oven. The thermometer read 39degC, but it felt much hotter inside. There was no fan, no breeze and barely any water left in the trough.

This wasn't an isolated case. All over the Jammu and Kashmir this year, we have been recording animals buckling under the weight of a heat they aren't built for.

Cats are collapsing. Dogs are overheating. Calves won't feed. Birds are falling out of trees.

The Kashmir I've known-cool, green, shaded by chinars-is changing fast. And our animals ...