Branka Gulin, veterinary inspector of Sibenik County on the central Adriatic coast, said preparations were under way to transfer the carcasses from the Kornati Archipelago, outside the port city of Zadar, to an inland site where they will be destroyed, the Croatian news agency HINA said.

Gulin said transport of the carcasses should begin by Sunday.

There were about 5,000 sheep in the Kornati national park and a two-month drought coupled with extremely high temperatures dried out natural watering places, leaving the animals to die of thirst. Authorities could not say how many sheep perished but they believed more than a quarter of those in the national park could not survive.

A boat carrying fresh water from the coastal towns was headed for Murter, and two Croatian navy vessels also brought water to the island, HINA said.