"‘Emaciated’ horse rescued by MSPCA in Merrimack Valley" by Rebecca Fiore, Globe Correspondent March 27, 2015
A 30-year-old “severely emaciated” and injured horse was rescued from a farm in the Merrimack Valley by a team from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Monday, officials said.
Flora, a Standardbred horse that was named by the rescuers from the law enforcement team, was covered in open and infected sores on her back and she had an ulcerated left eye.
“She’s one of the saddest sights we’ve seen in a long time,” said Melissa Ghareeb, equine and farm center manager for MSPCA-Nevins Farm in Methuen, in a statement. “And she’s going to require a great deal of care in the weeks ahead.”
Flora is just one of the eight horses in need of medical care that have been surrendered to the MSPCA from various locations in the last 10 days. Ghareeb said the organization usually takes in about 10 to 15 horses from January to March, but this year it acquired 13 horses in the past three weeks.
“It’s very difficult to house the animals while also scrambling to find permanent homes,” she said.
The MSPCA said because of the heavy snow this year, owners are forced to buy more hay instead of letting their horses eat healthily in pastures. Also, with the cost of snow removal and heating expenses, owners cannot properly take care of their animals....
This in the age of global warming.
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I've heard heroin helps with the cold:
"Waltham man indicted over package of heroin" by Rebecca Fiore, Globe Correspondent March 27, 2015
A Waltham man was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury on drug trafficking charges after he was caught picking up a package from a local convenience store with 200 grams of pills containing heroin inside, officials announced Friday.
Darvin Estrada, 26, was charged with trafficking in heroin and conspiracy to violate drug laws, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement.
“This incident is another example of the mail service being used to transport heroin and other controlled substances,” Ryan said.
Estrada was arrested on Dec. 11 by State Police after he picked up a package that was delivered to a store at 220 River St. in Waltham, prosecutors said. The package, originally from Guatemala, was intercepted in Miami by Customs and Border Protection of the Homeland Security Department, prosecutors said.
The package was then delivered to the store by undercover agents.
Estrada was arrested after claiming the package and leaving the store, prosecutors said. The estimated street value for the pills was more than $20,000, prosecutors said.
Conviction of trafficking in that quantity carries a possible sentence of 12 to 20 years in prison, authorities said.
“This alleged behavior illustrates the way in which the movement of large quantities of controlled substances has become a business and how those involved are increasingly using a ‘hands off’ economical means of transport,” Ryan said.
Estrada is expected to be arraigned April 2 in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.
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Almost makes you want the Taliban back, doesn't it?
