Pet sanctuary in Fortuna, CA took the money, killed and buried the animals.
Authorities search for 730 missing animals at mass grave site in NorCal
The search at Miranda’s Rescue comes as authorities investigate allegations of animal cruelty, fraud and theft. Between January 2025 and April 2026, roughly 900 animals were transferred to the facility from shelters across the state. Of those, 730 are currently unaccounted for, according to Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal.
"There’s no adoption records, no records whatsoever that we can locate that Miranda’s does not have that lets us know what happened to those animals," Honsal said. "That’s what we are looking for right now."
Investigators executing a second search warrant this week are digging up parts of the property to locate suspected graves and determine how the animals died. The probe began in April after two witnesses provided video, they said showed dogs being shot and buried on the property.
Dozens of animals have already been recovered in mass gravesites. "We have uncovered several anomalies in the soil, what we believe are gravesites amongst the pasture area," Honsal said. "We are going to continue to search there until we find all the graves that we possibly can."
Oakland Animal Services is one of the agencies heavily impacted by the investigation, having transferred more than 800 dogs to Miranda's Rescue since 2020. A microchip recently confirmed that one of its dogs, Zora, was found shot and buried on the Humboldt County property, even though the rescue initially reported she had been adopted.
Joe DeVries, director of Oakland Animal Services, said staff members had fostered many of the dogs for months and built deep personal relationships with them. Given the volume of missing animals and graves, he acknowledged that closure may not be possible in every case.
"I think that the owner and operator of this facility is held accountable to the greatest extent possible of the law, that is the greatest thing that could happen," DeVries said.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/mass-graves-missing-animals/4104185/
Not particularly surprising. The Owner and Operator should if there was any true justice to be had be in the hole right alongside the animals. But they’ll probably end up with a few years in a cell before getting released. No lessons will be learned and no examples set. Then the cycle will repeat.
Ironically we went from a country that tried people in the morning and hung them in the afternoon. To everything being bogged down in so much legal proceduralism it can take months if not years to prosecute even on simple cases.
Shelters though are often overburdened. With far too many animals and not enough space. Not enough people to adopt the animals. And a portion of the people who can and do adopt animals probably shouldn’t be anywhere near animals let alone other people.
Fly by night breeding operations, hoarders, and the multitude of other similar less than reputable operations. Only further add to the problem of too many animals which only further enables more shit like this to occur.
Swift Trial. Speedy Execution. ⚖️
The heartsickening stories just keep getting worse. Sometimes I wonder if learning to read was a good idea.
Being awake sucks hard at times.
Thanks
He!! is too good for these PURE EVIL beings! 🤬🔥
You bring up a good point. Breeders are one area that needs to be seriously addressed in reducing the numbers of unwanted animals. I have known breeders that were seniors trying to earn some extra cash by raising small breeds which are easy to do in a home. They don't care about the breed, only making money. Frankly, they don't know what the hell they are doing and actually harm the breed in the end as well as each animal itself. They operate factories.
I have been appalled at the conditions of these animals and how they spend their lives - in small cages and then discarded when they were no longer of any use for breeding stock. They are bred far too young and have far too many litters. Surprisingly, those doing this don't see the problem with what they are doing. It's just business to them. Some of them even claim to be Christians which I find baffling. Many of the adult dogs spent almost their entire lives in wire cages. Absolutely inhumane especially for social animals like dogs. It is cruel.
My parents and relatives did breed dogs, Dalmatians. So I do know something about this business. But we were conscious of the bloodlines and raised show dogs to improve the breed. However, we were against inbreeding, which is not improvement and sadly is rampant among many breeders, both for show dogs and for sale. Our dogs were family pets even though they were show dogs. My father especially bred our Dals not only for breed confirmation, but also temperament. He took great pains to do background checks on pedigrees just to weed out bad temperament and health issues. An overly popular breed can be a death nail for the breed itself overall because of the draw for some to capitalize on that popularity. My family did not overbreed their dogs like it was an assembly line. Breeding was very selective and rare. My parents also screened buyers carefully as well.
Unless someone is interested in breeding and showing dogs, there is no need to keep raising these breed dogs just to make money. They are living creatures given to man to be his friend. There are too many of these dogs sold as puppies only to be cast aside when they don't fit later. Too many people buy puppies for all the wrong reasons. They spend more time shopping for a pair of shoes. In fact, they take better care of those shoes than they do an animal.
I am a firm supporter of animal adoption and I have had several pound rescues in my life and they by far make the best pets and companions. I have one now, a wire haired Russell, and he is a jewel and a blessing in my life. Anyone that abuses animals has some major character inadequacies. In my experience, they usually don't treat people much better. You can tell a great deal about someone by how they interact with the animals in their lives.
Wish I could upvote this 100x.
Thank you. It needed to be said.
The shelters dumping the animals to this pet sanctuary, must have known or intentionally didn't investigate.