Berkeley animal shelter arsonist sentenced to 16 months in prison

Dog beds, blankets, food bags, leashes and other donated pet supplies were destroyed or left unusable from smoke damage. Credit: Zac Farber/Berkeleyside

The man who set fire to the city-run animal shelter in West Berkeley in June is headed to state prison.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Clifford Blakeley sentenced Peter Taraba, 48, to 16 months behind bars Thursday. Under California law, Taraba will likely be eligible for release after half that time. A jury found Taraba guilty of felony arson in September.

Prosecutors had asked for a longer two-year prison sentence, while Taraba had asked for probation instead of prison.

Blakely acknowledged that Taraba’s crime was non-violent and his previous criminal history minimal, but that his “conduct was extremely serious” in the shelter arson.

“You came to a shelter in the dead of night … you set fire in that shelter near where the pens were,” Blakely said Thursday. “This is extremely dangerous conduct, and the court can’t ignore that.”

A window at the Berkeley Animal Care Services shelter near Aquatic Park was boarded up on June 9, 2026. Credit: Zac Farber/Berkeleyside

Berkeley police seized Taraba’s dog the day before he set the fire, officers testified in a July 6 hearing. Surveillance footage captured Taraba in the area and police said he used an improvised ignition device in the June 6 fire, which burned through a pile of pet supplies under a lobby staircase, causing smoke damage in parts of the building. Sprinklers put out the fire but water from them left more damage still. The shelter was shut down for a little less than two months, meaning the 42 animals living there had to go to other facilities.

Deputy District Attorney Kevin W. Asvitt said Thursday that “animals did have to be relocated immediately after the fire — certain animals were euthanized as a result.”

But Berkeley Animal Services Manager Michael St. Pierre, who testified earlier in the trial, told Berkeleyside that “no animals were euthanized as a direct result of the fire.”

“Any euthanasia decisions made after the fire were based on an assessment of each animal’s individual circumstances, with multiple factors considered in every decision,” St. Pierre said in an email. “The prosecutor’s statement should not be interpreted to mean that the fire caused or was the determining factor in any euthanasia decision.”

The Berkeley Animal Care Services facility near Aquatic Park has been nearly back to full operations since late July, but “there is still a decent amount of work left to get us back to where we were,” St. Pierre said. Part of the second floor is not yet open to the public, although shelter staff have been able to use it as an overflow area for dogs.

“We are back to providing all field services, dependent on staffing, and are accepting strays and scheduling owner-surrendered animals,” St. Pierre said, adding his staff had done an “amazing job” under trying circumstances.

Taraba, who has been in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since the verdict, represented himself but barely participated in the trial, according to court records. He submitted exhibits but offered no opening statement or closing arguments, called no witnesses and cross-examined none of the ones prosecutors called. At his sentencing hearing, he had a beard and wore a red jail shirt and red-and-white-striped trousers.

At the end of the trial, the jury took under three hours to reach a verdict, according to court records.

Taraba kept his answers short Thursday. All he said on his own behalf was that he tried “several times” to report the fire he himself had set, but that nobody came.

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