{"id":342859,"date":"2026-06-02T12:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/342859\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T12:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:06:10","slug":"he-gets-a-new-chapter-now-bay-area-pit-bull-returns-from-rescue-accused-of-killing-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/342859\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He gets a new chapter now\u2019: Bay Area pit bull returns from rescue accused of killing dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

But when the 4-year-old pit bull came back from a Fortuna rescue under investigation last week<\/a>, his caretakers say, he was almost unrecognizable: ribs visible, fur missing from his legs and scratches and scars across his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 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,\u201d 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\u2019s deputies raided the property. \u201cEventually, he was going to end up in one of those pits.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver,Oliver, an estimated 4-year-old pit bull sent to Miranda\u2019s 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)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really devastating to think (about) what he went through there,\u201d Martinez added. \u201cIn a crisis, perfectly adoptable dogs are going to be euthanized, but there\u2019s no justification for starving a dog, for making the process leading up to that just a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miranda\u2019s Rescue is under investigation by the Humboldt County Sheriff\u2019s Office for allegedly killing dogs in its care. The allegations emerged after two women set up trail cameras and captured footage of the rescue\u2019s owner burying dogs on his property<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

More than 1,200 dogs have been sent to Miranda\u2019s Rescue from Bay Area public shelters since 2020.<\/p>\n

Miranda\u2019s Rescue did not respond to an emailed request for comment Monday. A spokesperson for the Humboldt County Sheriff\u2019s Office said there were no updates in the investigation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDogs are so resilient,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI probably would have a lot harder time with all this if it wasn\u2019t for him and his resilience and the way he\u2019s getting through all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"KevinKevin 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)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pair went on South Bay hikes, took walks with views of the Golden Gate Bridge\u00a0and visited restaurant patios as Johnson posted videos to social media to generate interest from potential adopters.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Rescue in the hopes that he could be re-homed.<\/p>\n

When Johnson learned of the allegations against the rescue \u2014 and found out Oliver had been sent there \u2014 he rushed to Martinez\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was distraught,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cDan told me right away, he was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to get your boy.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

When Martinez arrived at Miranda\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The rescue\u2019s owner, Shannon Miranda, told Martinez on a video he shared with the Bay Area News Group: \u201cI\u2019m glad you\u2019re here because they wanted him put down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez said of the moment caught on video: \u201cYou could hear his tone change when I get the dog into my possession. He says under his breath, \u2018Well I\u2019m being treated like a f\u2014\u2014 criminal by everyone.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez said he then confronted the owner.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrother, if you picked up a dog from me that looked like this, you\u2019d do the same,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat do you expect from me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s clearly just concerned about himself. He\u2019s not concerned about the emaciated dog he just gave me or the 60+ other dogs that are still in his care,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cHe\u2019s more concerned about how I treated him.<\/p>\n

By the time Martinez brought Oliver out at the first rest stop on their road trip, \u201chis whole demeanor changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Oliver is currently being boarded by RFRD Academy, where a trainer described him as \u201cenvironmentally flawless,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Oliver\u2019s) 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,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cThey just needed a little attention and some food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OliverOliver rests on Dan Martinez\u2019s lap during an interview Monday, June 1, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. Oliver, an estimated 4-year-old pit bull sent to Miranda\u2019s 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)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re waiting there for someone to come get them, to save them from that hellhole,\u201d Johnson added. \u201cAnd they just don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For now, Martinez is letting Oliver recover before looking for a permanent home for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a beautiful, excellent dog. He\u2019s just very chill,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe has a very dear place in my heart, and so he\u2019s here now, and we\u2019re going to do everything we can to make sure that he gets a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets a new chapter now.\u201d
\n\"KevinKevin 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\u2019s 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)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Oliver used to spend weekends hiking South Bay trails, visiting restaurant patios and posing for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[389,2113,184,861,7,8,332,1529,181,23,100,143,4824,2944,88,90,89,198,94685,200,2442,420],"class_list":["post-342859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-alameda-county","tag-animals","tag-bay-area","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-east-bay","tag-east-bay-crime","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-pets-and-animals","tag-photos-and-videos","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-social-alert","tag-south-bay","tag-south-bay-crime","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}