In a distant field, the two-year-old lurcher was securely shackled by her collar to a metal fence post. Six of the dog’s puppies, which were still too little to open their eyes, had been abandoned with her. They had nothing to eat or drink, and the woman, shackled by the chain that was pulling at her collar, was trying to nurse her infant.
The Irish Times reports that on 6 November, a bystander noticed the helpless, nursing mother and her puppies in a field close to Elphin, a small town. The person asked for help right away. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) operates a veterinarian clinic in the vicinity where the mother and her puppies were relocated.
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The length of time the seven-member family had been stranded there was unknown. The Daily Mail reports that rescuers think the mother and her puppies were abandoned not long after the mother gave birth.
Hugh O’Toole, manager of the ISPCA center, stated that “[leaving a young dog] barely two years old tied up without water, food, or shelter most likely placed her [life] in jeopardy, along with her young pups.”
He stated, “I’m glad we were informed so we could rescue them. With the recent amount of rain and cold temperatures this week, the outcome might have been quite different.”
For emergency medical attention, the seven dogs were sent to the ISPCA’s national animal center County Longford. Thankfully, other than having to face their period of hunger and the bitter cold, neither the mother nor her infants suffered any serious injuries.
Taking in a family of seven was no simple task for the ISPCA.
“We have very limited resources, and our centers are always full,” O’Toole stated. “On occasion, we’ve had to use private boarding kennels to handle the volume of animals awaiting arrival. It can occasionally take some time to find suitable, responsible homes for the many animals under our care.
He continued, echoing the outrage of animal lovers everywhere, saying, “I don’t see how someone can believe it’s OK to leave a dog tied to a fence to milk her pups.”
When the ISPCA posted pictures of the sweet, stoic lurcher and her puppies on Facebook, comments started to stream in. With all the brutality in the world, this has to be the saddest photo I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a lolotone reader wrote. “This is terrible, poor mom dog trying to protect her pups, it’s just shocking.”
Another Facebook user stated, “Enough is enough,” and added, “This sort of horrible treatment will continue until we have stronger laws and harsher consequences for animal abuse.” Politicians need to step up and revise animal welfare laws, just like in other states.
The mother dog, named Emmy Lou by her rescuers, was not microchipped, making it impossible to identify her owner even though microchipping is a legal requirement in the UK.
Billy Ray, Dixie, Dolly, Dotty, June, and Patsy are the names of the puppies, who will all remain with the ISPCA until they are old enough to be placed for adoption.
Like other animal welfare groups throughout the globe, the ISPCA is still pushing pet owners to spay and neuter their animals contributing to the decrease in the number of unwanted animals in the world.
Emmy Lou and her babies’ good fortune, however, was a kind Samaritan out strolling on a chilly November day in the Irish countryside, and it might be so for years to come.
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