Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said he thinks people who commit acts of animal cruelty should face harsher penalties after a dog was left in a bag to die after being shot and was eventually put down.

“And I can say from a personal standpoint I wish that the penalties were much, much, much stiffer on animal cruelty charges,” Burch said during a press conference.

“Because I believe those type of people who would just harm an animal for no reason whatsoever wouldn’t hesitate to do that to a human being either. Honestly, they should be much more severe and without getting in trouble that’s all I’ll say about that.”

The dog, named Chance, was found in a bag on the side of Henderson Camp Road in Grand Bay on Saturday. According to Burch, a local resident named Brooke Whitehurst found Chance and attempted to save his life but due to his injuries he was later put down.

Whitehurst filed a police report Monday and the sheriff’s office has been investigating the incident since Tuesday. Burch said the agency has received numerous complaints from individuals due to a perceived lack of urgency to figure out who harmed Chance.

Burch asked for people to remain patient and said the sheriff’s office has already spoken to several people to try and determine a potential culprit.

Burch previously said the person who harmed Chance was a “piece of trash.”

Burch said he plans to try and get some “laws changed” surrounding animal cruelty penalties after Chance’s case has concluded.

“Once the dust settles on this case, I’m personally going to meet with some people who are the head of some of these organizations, and maybe together, try to get some laws changed and penalties stiffened,” Burch said.