Comments poured in when the ISPCA shared photos of the adorable, stoic lurcher and her babies on Facebook. "This has to be the saddest photo I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot with so much cruelty around us," one commenter said, "this is awful, poor mom dog trying to protect her pups, it's simply shocking."

"This sort of awful treatment will continue until we have stronger laws and harsher consequences for animal abuse," another Facebook user said, adding, "enough is enough." Politicians must move up and rewrite animal welfare regulations, as other counties have done."

Despite the fact that microchipping is a legal requirement in the United Kingdom, the mother dog, dubbed Emmy Lou by her rescuers, was not microchipped and could not be tracked back to an owner.

The puppies' names are Billy Ray, Dixie, Dolly, Dotty, June, and Patsy, and they will all stay with the ISPCA until they are old enough to be adopted.

The ISPCA, like other animal welfare organizations throughout the world, continues to encourage pet owners to spay and neuter their pets in order to help reduce the population of unwanted animals.

A kind Samaritan out strolling on a cold November day in the Irish countryside, on the other hand, was Emmy Lou and her babies' good fortune, and it may continue to be so for years to come.