ANGIER — A 5-month-old pit bull puppy starved to death while chained in the back yard of a house on N.C. 55 in southern Wake County near Angier, sheriff’s deputies said, and they charged a man and woman with felony cruelty to animals early Tuesday.

Keith Lamar Leach, 28, and Angela Yuronda Burch, 38, were arrested at their home at 8509 S. N.C. 55 at about 4 a.m., according to arrest reports.

In the arrest warrant for Leach, the sheriff’s office said the dog was chained up the back yard and that he fed it “every now and then,” and that it died “from starving to death.”

Burch’s warrant charged the dog starved “to death as a result of her not feeding the dog.”

Leach and Burch were being held Tuesday in lieu of $3,000 bail each.