Volunteers for the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society plan to press charges against the owners of a young pit bull found dead and another that they said suffered from neglect.

Don Winters, who rescues animals for the humane society, said the society will file charges against the owner in the near future.

“We’re looking at who to charge and how to charge them,” Winters said. “We want to go about it the right way.”

Winters said they wanted to confirm the owners of the dogs before they filed charges.

The two dogs were found at a Lower Woodville Road home earlier this month. Both were chained outside with little or no shelter.

The surviving pit bull was treated at a local veterinarian’s office, and an autopsy was performed on the dead puppy, Winters said.

“The autopsy showed he died of exposure and malnutrition,” he said. “The other one was malnourished and had a severe case of worms.”

The 1-year-old female is currently being cared for at the humane society and can be kept until the case goes through the courts, he said.

The owners will be prosecuted under a state law, 97-41-9, that makes animal neglect a misdemeanor, Winters said.

State law addresses cruelty to animals, but it only classifies it as a misdemeanor.

A group of Mississippians are working to change that.

State Sen. Bob Dearing (D-Natchez), who recently helped pass a bill that added cats to the animal cruelty bill, took up the challenge.

After receiving more than a thousand petition signatures, as well as calls and e-mails, from Mississippi residents, Dearing introduced a bill this past legislative session that would make cruelty to animals a felony.

“Right now, folks can get away with whatever they want,” Dearing said, referencing the relatively minor punishment for animal cruelty misdemeanors.

After passing a committee, the bill died because of its language, Dearing said. The bill addressed animals in general, something some people found troubling.

“The farm bureau had grave concerns it would affect livestock,” Dearing said. “For example, if a cow got skinny. It was really off the wall in my opinion. So the bill died.”

But there’s another opportunity to make cruelty to animals a felony, Dearing said.

“The only other choice we have is to find a house bill that we can attach language to,” he said.

The language Dearing has proposed narrowed the animals it covered down to dogs and cats. It makes cruelty to animals a felony punishable by not more than $5,000 fine, imprisonment not to exceed five years, or both.

The issue should come up in the coming days, Dearing said. And since the language was narrowed down to dogs and cats, he said he thinks there will be less controversy.