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Hundreds of Dogs Remain Missing as Search Resumes at Miranda’s Rescue

More than 700 dogs remain unaccounted for as Humboldt County investigators use ground-penetrating radar in a fraud and animal cruelty probe at Miranda’s Rescue in Fortuna.
Zoë Ferrigno and Sukey Lewis
Crews dig at the suspected site of animal remains at Miranda’s Rescue in Fortuna on June 23, 2026. (Mark McKenna for KQED)

Humboldt County investigators served a second search warrant on Tuesday morning at Miranda’s Rescue, a 50-acre animal rescue facility in Fortuna whose owner, Shannon Miranda, is suspected of killing dogs for profit and burying them on his property.

At a 2 p.m. press conference at the scene, Sheriff William Honsal said investigators used ground-penetrating radar to search for anomalies in the soil and confirmed that they had recovered the body of one horse and one smaller animal that could not yet be identified but which was “the size of a dog.”

The search was carried out by members of the sheriff’s office and animal control, as well as representatives from several other state and federal agencies, including the California Department of Justice, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Honsal said the operation will continue for the next few days.

“We’ll be done when we believe that all evidence is seized from this location,” he said. In addition to searching for the bodies of animals on the property, Honsal said they were also looking for records and “other proofs to the crime of fraud and animal cruelty.”

The sheriff’s office first launched an investigation into Miranda’s Rescue on May 1 after two Humboldt County residents, Jennifer Raymond and Jenna Moore, entered Miranda’s property at night and dug up the bodies of eight dogs.

Miranda’s Rescue in Fortuna on June 23, 2026, where the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant in connection with an ongoing animal cruelty and fraud case involving the animal rescue. (Mark McKenna for KQED)

Though an official cause of death has not been declared for those animals, many of the dogs appeared to have gunshot wounds. In their first search of Miranda’s Rescue on May 1, sheriff’s deputies seized firearms and ammunition, as well as a laptop, phone, hard drive and physical files from the property.

Miranda’s Rescue, which claimed to be a “no-kill” sanctuary, has contracts with municipal shelters throughout California. Honsal said that after conducting interviews with many of those shelters, the office determined that between January 2025 and the spring of 2026, more than 900 dogs were sent to the rescue, including one from Hawaii.

Miranda often told shelters that the dogs they’d sent had been adopted out, but there is evidence that at least some of those adoptions were faked. Honsal said that of the more than 900 dogs, investigators have been able to confirm only about 100 adoptions.

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“We have 730 animals that are unaccounted for,” Honsal said. “And that’s part of the reason why we are here today.”

He said a team of forensic veterinarians was on site and prepared to perform necropsies and scan microchips in an effort to identify the animals and determine the cause of death as quickly as possible.

Once sufficient evidence has been gathered, Honsal said it will be turned over to the district attorney, the attorney general and the U.S. attorney, who will decide whether or not to file charges against Miranda. Until then, “ he’s allowed to have animals on his ranch… and operate his business at this time. He has not been criminally charged.”

Raymond said she was glad to see the investigation progressing.

“This is a great day for us,” she said. “We’ve waited for this for a long time.”

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