{"id":379957,"date":"2026-06-29T23:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/379957\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T23:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:56:12","slug":"sacramento-county-seeks-dogs-sent-to-rescue-under-investigation-for-animal-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/379957\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento County Seeks Dogs Sent to Rescue Under Investigation for Animal Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sacramento County seeks dogs transferred to Miranda\u2019s Rescue as a Humboldt County investigation into alleged animal abuse, fraud and illegal transfers expands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Humboldt County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy inspects dogs in a kennel at Miranda\u2019s Rescue in Fortuna on June 23, 2026. Last week, investigators from the sheriff\u2019s office, FBI, California Department of Justice, USDA and Humboldt County District Attorney\u2019s Office served a second search warrant on Miranda\u2019s property.\u00a0(Mark McKenna for KQED)<\/p>\n

Last week, investigators from the sheriff\u2019s office, FBI, California Department of Justice, USDA and Humboldt County District Attorney\u2019s Office served a second search warrant on Miranda\u2019s property, recovering 117 dog bodies, 21 skulls, adoption paperwork and other evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aThe facts that have been uncovered are deeply disturbing, and I understand the community\u2019s desire for answers, accountability, and justice,\u201d Sheriff William Honsal said at a press conference<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n

So far, 91 microchips have been recovered from the scene, he said. Many of them\u200a \u201ctrace back to shelters and rescue facilities throughout the state.\u201d Honsal asked for the public\u2019s patience as investigators work through the evidence in what he described as a \u201ccomplex case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Miranda\u2019s Rescue in Fortuna on June 23, 2026, where a search warrant was served by the Humboldt County Sheriff\u2019s Office in connection to an ongoing animal cruelty and fraud case involving the animal rescue. (Mark McKenna for KQED)<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aThis case will not be solved in the public forum,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be handled through the criminal justice system and, if appropriate, a court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miranda\u2019s attorney, Allison Jackson, declined to\u00a0 comment, and directed KQED to an online statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Miranda has gone on the record stating every animal that dies or is put down is buried on the property and this has occurred for 30 years,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cIt is not surprising that the deputies disinterred 30 years of dogs, cats, sheep, goats, and horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson also wrote that Miranda and his family have faced death threats, urged the sheriff to put a stop to \u201csalacious comments at press conferences\u201d and called the complainants \u201cvigilantes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honsal said the rate of dogs being euthanized at Miranda\u2019s, according to the evidence his office collected, appeared \u201coutside the scope\u201d of normal shelter operations.<\/p>\n

He said the case also highlights a bigger crisis in the animal shelter system.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia has a serious spay and neuter problem, and something needs to be done about it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnimal shelters across the state are overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sheriff called on lawmakers to pass AB-631<\/a>, a bill proposed last year that died in committee, which would have required rescues like Miranda\u2019s to keep better records of adoptions, death and transfers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis type of accountability and transparency is necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sacramento\u2019s Bradshaw Animal Shelter stopped transfers to Miranda\u2019s Rescue over a year ago after discovering during routine due diligence that its nonprofit status had lapsed, according to spokeswoman Brittani Peterson.<\/p>\n

The legal filing said at least five dogs were transferred there anyway with the help of two dog rescues \u2014 Resilient Dog Rescue and Scooter\u2019s Pals \u2014 acting as intermediaries.<\/p>\n

Heidi Hatfield, the CEO of Resilient Dog Rescue in Stockton, said she has known Shannon Miranda for about five years and that she trusted him.<\/p>\n

\"\"Crews dig at the suspected site of animal remains at Miranda\u2019s Rescue in Fortuna, Calif. on June 23, 2026. (Marc McKenna for KQED)<\/p>\n

\u201cI \u200adidn\u2019t know there was another reason why they shouldn\u2019t be going to Shannon, aside from paperwork,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said the dogs were picked up from Bradshaw and taken to Miranda\u2019s Rescue by a volunteer that her organization had given \u201cpull rights\u201d to. Resilient Dog Rescue never had possession of the animals, and all transfer and adoption fees were paid directly to Miranda\u2019s Rescue by private donors.<\/p>\n

Scooter\u2019s Pals did not respond to requests for comment. \u201cWe are fully cooperating with the authorities in support of the animals,\u201d a statement on the rescue\u2019s Facebook page reads. \u201cNo Scooter\u2019s dogs are currently at Miranda\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two officers from Sacramento Animal Services were at Miranda\u2019s Rescue last week to retrieve two dogs originally from Bradshaw: Brutus and Peorot. Peterson said Miranda refused to allow the officers to see the dogs, and they left empty-handed. One dog, Oliver, was retrieved by the shelter back in early June.<\/p>\n

Jackson did not respond to questions about the Sacramento demand.<\/p>\n

Honsal said that there are still 45 dogs at Miranda\u2019s Rescue and that the facility remains open. If Miranda becomes unable to care for the animals, the sheriff said, his office has a plan to re-home the dogs.<\/p>\n

\"\"Humboldt County Sheriff Bill Honsal, left, addresses media and community members at a press conference discussing the warrant served at Miranda\u2019s Rescue in Fortuna on June 23, 2026. (Mark McKenna for KQED)<\/p>\n

The sheriff asked that anyone with information about the case or about animals sent to the rescue in the past year reach out to their tipline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The allegations that Miranda took in dogs for profit and then killed them have rocked the rescue community, according to Hatfield.<\/p>\n

Her organization has been cooperating with authorities and trying to help Bradshaw recover the animals in any way they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt responsible for the dogs,\u201d she said, \u201cWe wanna help them because they\u2019re there because of our being idiots, I guess. Trusting basically people we shouldn\u2019t have trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zo\u00eb Ferrigno contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento County seeks dogs transferred to Miranda\u2019s Rescue as a Humboldt County investigation into alleged animal abuse, fraud…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-379957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379957","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=379957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}