A window at the Berkeley Animal Care Services shelter near Aquatic Park was boarded up on June 9, 2026. Credit: Zac Farber/Berkeleyside
Update, Sept. 11: A jury found 48-year-old Peter Taraba guilty of felony arson Wednesday after a five-day trial. A vandalism charge was dismissed on the first day of trial. Taraba set fire to the Berkeley Animal Care Services shelter June 6. He was in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Oakland Friday, scheduled for sentencing Oct. 8.
Original article, July 28: Berkeley’s city-run animal shelter has reopened a little less than two months after police say a disgruntled former pet owner torched the facility, located at the north end of Aquatic Park.
It’s not yet business as usual: Repairs are still underway, space for animals is at a premium and the shelter has curtailed how many surrendered dogs it can house. But as of Saturday, Berkeley Animal Care Services had resumed normal operating hours, according to city officials.
The total cost of the damage from the June 6 fire is not yet known, but a city insurance policy should cover it, Deputy City Manager David White said in an email.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged 48-year-old Peter Taraba with arson, which Taraba has denied.
No people or animals were hurt in the fire but all the animals living there had to transfer elsewhere. Some have returned, but others will stay with the shelters or rescues that took them in, White said.
The shelter still needs “a significant amount of sheetrock” replaced, mostly in the lobby and front stairway, White said. Once that is in place, workers can put back cabinets, sinks and counters they had taken out to get to the old, damaged sheetrock.
The shelter also needs a new window, which authorities believe Taraba smashed to get inside.
Finally, the whole shelter will need a “deep clean,” White said.
Shelter staff have begun escorting volunteers and prospective adopters since the fire, White said.
About half the space for housing dogs is still unusable, White said, so BACS is doing more to triage which surrenders it accepts. “If the situation is unsafe for the owner or animal, or the owner can no longer hold onto the animal, we will accept the animal,” White wrote.
The shelter typically accepts donations of blankets, towels and linens, but has asked that people hold off on those items for now as it has more than it can store, White said. The shelter is accepting monetary donations. The shelter and its nonprofit partner are still accepting monetary donations, he said.
Berkeley police seized arson suspect’s dog a day before the fire
Berkeley police seized Taraba’s dog on June 5 while arresting him on suspicion of stabbing a cyclist’s tire with a pocketknife in the 1900 block of Shattuck Avenue, officers testified at a preliminary hearing July 6. An officer took the dog to the city shelter that evening.
Police believe that the next evening, on June 6, Taraba broke a window to get into the shelter and lit a fire using an improvised device. Taraba was caught on surveillance cameras in the area, police said. Officers arrested him June 11.
Dog beds, blankets, food bags, leashes and other donated pet supplies were destroyed or left unusable from smoke damage. Credit: Zac Farber/Berkeleyside
A fire inspector determined that the fire had started in the space under the stairwell, where shelter staff typically stash donated items and pet supplies, and testified that there were traces of “a combustible material” that may have been used.
Police previously said they believed Taraba had also tried to flood the shelter building the night before they arrested him. Prosecutors initially charged Taraba with misdemeanor vandalism from that incident but said July 6 they were no longer pursuing that charge.
Taraba, who is representing himself, said in court that he had previously volunteered with BACS.
Reardon ordered Taraba held to answer for one felony count of arson from the shelter fire and one misdemeanor count of vandalism from the bike tire incident, a decision that essentially means the judge decided there was probable cause to believe Taraba had committed those crimes. Taraba has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Reardon also ordered Taraba released on his own recognizance pending trial, on the condition that he stay at least 100 yards away from the city shelter. He was previously held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a $670,000 bail.
Taraba’s case is scheduled for trial Aug. 31. In a separate case, he is facing a misdemeanor assault charge after allegedly slapping staff members at a downtown homeless shelter; he is scheduled to enter a plea in that case Aug. 31.
“*” indicates required fields