SAN JOSE — Oliver used to spend weekends hiking South Bay trails, visiting restaurant patios and posing for social media videos meant to help find him a home.
But when the 4-year-old pit bull came back from a Fortuna rescue under investigation last week, his caretakers say, he was almost unrecognizable: ribs visible, fur missing from his legs and scratches and scars across his face.
“From January until the day I got him, he was not being fed properly, he was clearly not getting the amount of attention that you would hope that a dog would get at a rescue,” said Dan Martinez, president of San Jose-based dog rescue Adopt My Block, who drove to Fortuna last week to bring Oliver home after sheriff’s deputies raided the property. “Eventually, he was going to end up in one of those pits.
Oliver, an estimated 4-year-old pit bull sent to Miranda’s Rescue earlier this year, was retrieved by Dan Martinez after allegations emerged that the organization was killing dogs in its care. Photographed on Monday June 1, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
“It’s really devastating to think (about) what he went through there,” Martinez added. “In a crisis, perfectly adoptable dogs are going to be euthanized, but there’s no justification for starving a dog, for making the process leading up to that just a nightmare.”
Miranda’s Rescue is under investigation by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly killing dogs in its care. The allegations emerged after two women set up trail cameras and captured footage of the rescue’s owner burying dogs on his property. The two women then broke onto his land, dug up some of the dogs he had allegedly buried and found that they had been shot in the head.
More than 1,200 dogs have been sent to Miranda’s Rescue from Bay Area public shelters since 2020.
Miranda’s Rescue did not respond to an emailed request for comment Monday. A spokesperson for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said there were no updates in the investigation.
Though Oliver has only been back in San Jose for a week, handlers say he already has started to recover from his ordeal. At a dog park on Monday morning, he wagged his tail at every person he saw, wandered over to friends for pets and took short naps in a shady spot beneath a tree. His cuts have started to heal, his ribs no longer show and the fur on his legs has started to grow back.
“Dogs are so resilient,” Martinez said. “I probably would have a lot harder time with all this if it wasn’t for him and his resilience and the way he’s getting through all this.”
Kevin Johnson, founder and CEO of Coffee Companions Coffee Co., a San Jose-based coffee company that donates a portion of its profits to Bay Area animal shelters, got to know Oliver over a five-month span as he took him on weekend adventures during his stay at the San Jose shelter.
Kevin Johnson, who took Oliver on weekly adventures during his stay at a San Jose animal shelter in 2025, talks during an interview Monday, June 1, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
The pair went on South Bay hikes, took walks with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and visited restaurant patios as Johnson posted videos to social media to generate interest from potential adopters.
Eventually, Oliver was welcomed into a foster home, the first step before a permanent adoption. But after he bit another dog, he was sent to Miranda’s Rescue in the hopes that he could be re-homed.
When Johnson learned of the allegations against the rescue — and found out Oliver had been sent there — he rushed to Martinez’s house.
“I was distraught,” Johnson said. “Dan told me right away, he was like, ‘I’m going to get your boy.’ ”
When Martinez arrived at Miranda’s Rescue early one morning last week, he drove up a dirt road surrounded by horses. He had to wait at the gate for 30 minutes before someone finally arrived to let him in, he said. The owner told him they would handle the transfer as an adoption, had him fill out forms and let him load Oliver into his vehicle.
The rescue’s owner, Shannon Miranda, told Martinez on a video he shared with the Bay Area News Group: “I’m glad you’re here because they wanted him put down.”
Martinez said of the moment caught on video: “You could hear his tone change when I get the dog into my possession. He says under his breath, ‘Well I’m being treated like a f—— criminal by everyone.’ ”
Martinez said he then confronted the owner.
“Brother, if you picked up a dog from me that looked like this, you’d do the same,” he said. “What do you expect from me?’”
“He’s clearly just concerned about himself. He’s not concerned about the emaciated dog he just gave me or the 60+ other dogs that are still in his care,” Martinez said. “He’s more concerned about how I treated him.
By the time Martinez brought Oliver out at the first rest stop on their road trip, “his whole demeanor changed,” he said.
Oliver is currently being boarded by RFRD Academy, where a trainer described him as “environmentally flawless,” Martinez said. Since returning to San Jose last week, he has attended multiple events where he was surrounded by people and other dogs without incident.
“(Oliver’s) behavior, his temperament proves that what (Miranda) was saying about these dogs was not true. They were not aggressive, they were not beyond the point of being able to work with,” Martinez said. “They just needed a little attention and some food.”
Oliver rests on Dan Martinez’s lap during an interview Monday, June 1, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. Oliver, an estimated 4-year-old pit bull sent to Miranda’s Rescue earlier this year, was retrieved by Martinez after allegations emerged that the organization was killing dogs in its care. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
“They’re waiting there for someone to come get them, to save them from that hellhole,” Johnson added. “And they just don’t have that.”
Martinez said the situation revealed the need for a stronger accountability system for rescues. Public shelters, he said, could check in quarterly with the rescues they send dogs to, follow up on individual animals and track overall adoptions.
For now, Martinez is letting Oliver recover before looking for a permanent home for him.
“He’s just a beautiful, excellent dog. He’s just very chill,” Johnson said. “He has a very dear place in my heart, and so he’s here now, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that he gets a home.
“He gets a new chapter now.”
Kevin Johnson, who took Oliver on weekly adventures during his stay at a San Jose animal shelter in 2025, pets Oliver during an interview Monday, June 1, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. Oliver, an estimated 4-year-old pit bull sent to Miranda’s Rescue earlier this year, was retrieved by Dan Martinez after allegations emerged that the organization was killing dogs in its care. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)