It’s hard enough to see a photo of one starving dog, but to see an emaciated mother dog and her three Pit Bull puppies huddling together really makes you wonder what the hell is wrong with people.

The heartbreaking photo of the dogs, taken before they and five other dogs were seized from their Pico Rivera, Calif., home last night, has gone viral since it was posted by Janette Gonzalez on Facebook yesterday afternoon. A friend of hers alerted her to the starving dogs in the backyard of a home on Coffman Pico Road.

“I have so much pain in my heart right now,” Gonzalez wrote in the caption. “I don’t know what else to do but out these horrible people on blast. Help make this go viral. Something needs to happen.”

Rescue groups have offered to take in the dogs and animal lovers have pledged to pay for their care. Some GoFundMe accounts have sprung up that could possibly be scams, but more likely were started by people just trying to help the poor dogs.

The nine dogs were taken to the high-kill Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA) shelter in Downey, Calif., where they are being held as evidence during the animal cruelty investigation, and will not be released to rescue organizations. According to ABC7, the shelter won’t give out any further information about the dogs.

We rescued our dog Ella from SEAACA in 2010. She had kennel cough, and when we came to pick her up, we were sent to the shelter’s animal hospital. We found her crouching in a urine-soaked cage, ignored by the one employee working there. Her kennel cough developed into pneumonia but, fortunately, she survived. I can only hope SEAACA’s treatment of sick animals has improved since then.

Let’s keep these poor dogs in our thoughts and prayers — they really need them.

Photo via Facebook