Refugios del Área de la Bahía enviaron 1,200 perros a un rescate ahora bajo investigación por presuntos asesinatos

More than 1,200 dogs from Bay Area shelters have been sent over the past five years to a Northern California rescue now under investigation over allegations that its founder accepted animals for transfer fees, killed at least some of them, and buried them behind the facility. The investigation into Fortuna-based Miranda’s Rescue, which advertised itself as a no-kill animal sanctuary in Humboldt County, has rattled public shelters across the Bay Area, including San Jose, Oakland, Contra Costa County, and Santa Clara County.

Several have severed ties with the rescue as they try to determine what happened to dogs they believed they had placed in safe hands.

Investigators are examining whether the killings were tied to payments made by some animal services agencies to rescues — payments that can range from $400 to $1,450 for each dog. The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office is investigating allegations of abuse at Miranda's Rescue in Fortuna.

San Jose Animal Care and Services transferred 140 dogs to Miranda’s Rescue from 2020 to 2025, including eight last year, according to public records. The agency, which also serves Milpitas, Cupertino, and Saratoga, has since severed ties with the rescue, according to Deputy Director Monica Wylie.

“Animal welfare and responsible placement practices are central to our mission; we take these allegations seriously,” Wylie said in a statement. “At the time of the transfers, Miranda’s Rescue met the requirements and screening standards we put in place for our rescue groups.

We have reached out to them to inquire about the status and welfare of the animals we transferred. At this time, we have not been provided any information or evidence indicating harm to the dogs.”

Oakland Animal Services Director Joe DeVries said he learned what happened to one dog his agency had sent there through a photo of a mass grave on the property. Zora, a mixed breed dog sent to Miranda's Rescue from the Oakland Animal Shelter, was one of the dogs found in a mass grave.

“Her name was Zora, and Miranda’s had told us the previous weekend that that dog had been adopted out. And I was staring at a picture of Zora with a bullet in her head in a mass grave,” DeVries said.

“The floor fell out from below us.” He added, “We were so shocked that I immediately canceled the transfer that we had scheduled literally for the next day to Miranda’s. I told my transfer coordinator, ‘Stop, don’t, you are not sending animals there.

Tell them whatever you need to tell them — the truck’s broken, we don’t have a driver, I don’t care, but we’re not going to send animals.’”

Oakland Animal Services transferred the highest number of dogs to the rescue out of Bay Area facilities, with 205 transfers in 2025 and 42 in the first part of 2026, according to OAS. Since 2020, the agency sent 827 dogs.

Santa Clara County’s Animal Services Center transferred 80 dogs to Miranda’s Rescue from 2020 to 2025, including 25 in 2025, according to the records. Another 27 dogs were transferred in 2026, said Lisa Jenkins, manager of the center.

Jenkins said in a statement that the agency was “extremely troubled by the reporting surrounding this rescue.” She added, “At this time, we have not been notified that any of the animals involved in the investigation originated from our organization. Our priority is, and will continue to be, the safety and well‑being of the animals in our care and in our community.”

Steve Burdo, public information officer for Contra Costa Animal Services, said some agencies, like his, work with rescue groups as an alternative pipeline to adoption for animals. That can include “harder to place animals” who have behavioral issues or medical needs.

Contra Costa Animal Service’s Martinez Shelter transferred 20 dogs in 2025 and 170 from 2020 to 2025, according to public records. Contra Costa Animal Services will not transfer any additional dogs to the rescue, Burdo said.

The more than 30 dogs transferred in 2024 and 2025 were generally dogs that have “behavioral concerns” and would not have been “put up for regular adoption,” he added. No dogs have been transferred to Miranda’s since October 2025.

“These are really troubling allegations and we can’t in good faith say that this is a place where we would feel comfortable sending an animal,” Burdo said.

Berkeley Animal Care Services transferred 15 dogs in 2025 and 56 between 2020 and 2025, according to public records. East County Animal Shelter, located in Alameda County, transferred eight dogs in 2025 and 31 between 2020 and 2025.

The Tri-City Animal Shelter, located in Fremont, transferred at least three animals in 2020. None of those shelters responded to requests for comment.

Some shelters paid Miranda’s Rescue to take dogs. Oakland Animal Services does not normally pay transfer partners to take dogs but was willing to do so in the case of Miranda’s because of the slow market for large dogs, DeVries said.

Friends of Oakland Animal Services, the shelter’s nonprofit arm, paid $376,000 in fees to Miranda’s Rescue from 2020 to 2026, according to a statement. Santa Clara Animal Services Center paid $500 per dog, Jenkins said.

Contra Costa Animal Services did not pay for any of the dogs sent there, Burdo said. “Most transfer partners do not use that business model, and it really reeks now of a commercial operation, not a humanitarian one,” DeVries said.

A representative for Miranda’s Rescue could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. DeVries added that shooting a dog is not a legal form of euthanasia under California law except in emergency situations.

Only one dog microchipped to Oakland remained at Miranda’s Rescue when deputies served their search warrant, DeVries said. “Our heart sank further because we just don’t know the fate of all those other dogs,” DeVries said.

“Until the sheriff’s office exhumes bodies and scans them for microchips, we won’t know.” No arrests or charges have been reported, though the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation.