After 117 dead dogs found, NorCal rescue owner speaks out

The owner of a Fortuna animal rescue at the center of a sweeping animal cruelty investigation is publicly accusing Humboldt County’s sheriff of distorting the facts and waging a politically motivated campaign against him.

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Nearly three months after investigators began excavating Miranda’s Rescue in Fortuna, owner Shannon Miranda issued his most detailed public defense yet, accusing Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal of using “Gestapo tactics” during searches, failing to provide a promised inventory of seized items and selectively releasing information “for publicity rather than to reflect the truth” to benefit his reelection campaign.

The July 31 statement, provided by attorney Allison G. Jackson of Harland Law Firm LLP and first sent to the Times-Standard, comes as authorities continue investigating alleged animal cruelty, fraud and conspiracy at the longtime rescue. Investigators have exhumed 117 dead dogs, 21 canine skulls and hundreds of additional bones from the property, according to the sheriff’s office. No criminal charges have been filed. 

“I have fully cooperated with the investigation and provided everything requested,” Miranda wrote, after saying that “media coverage, social media posts, and law enforcement have continued to distort the truth.”

Miranda denied allegations that he euthanized dogs to make room for additional shelter transfers, saying euthanasia decisions were based on animals’ medical conditions, behavior and legal adoptability. He said Miranda’s Rescue accepted dogs already slated for euthanasia and that some could not legally or safely be adopted.

The rescue owner also disputed several claims made by investigators, saying the over 600 dog collars recovered during the search were donated to the rescue, shelter payments were used to care for animals and all burials complied with the law. He said shelters sometimes transferred heavily sedated dogs with incomplete behavioral histories and often declined to take aggressive animals back. He also accused neighbors Jennifer Raymond and Jenna Moore of orchestrating a campaign to discredit him and alleged sheriff’s investigators were more willing to speak with his accusers than with him.

SFGATE contacted Miranda’s Rescue but did not hear back in time before publishing.

Honsal also pushed back on Miranda’s claims in a statement to the Times-Standard, saying inventories of seized property were completed after each search warrant and provided at the scene as required by law. Those inventories are part of the public court record, he said.

“I have no personal vendetta against Mr. Miranda, nor is this investigation driven by anything other than the facts,” Honsal said in a written statement. “Our responsibility is to conduct a thorough, objective, and impartial investigation, wherever the evidence leads.”

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Honsal said detectives continue reviewing physical evidence, financial and business records, digital evidence and witness interviews, adding that investigators “will not rush the investigative process.”

SFGATE reached out to the sheriff’s office on Honsal’s statement but did not hear back in time before publication.

The investigation began after animal welfare advocate Raymond, who bought the home next door to Miranda’s Rescue while trying to investigate long-standing rumors about missing dogs, trespassed onto the property in April and dug up what she said was a buried dog. Weeks later, Raymond and Moore returned and removed five additional dog carcasses, scanning their microchips and sharing the findings with law enforcement and California shelters.

Sheriff’s investigators first searched the property May 1 before returning in June with the FBI, the California Department of Justice, the California Attorney General’s Office, the United States Department of Agriculture, forensic veterinarians and Cal Poly Humboldt anthropologists to conduct a large-scale excavation. 

Raymond, whose discovery of buried dog carcasses on the property helped trigger the sheriff’s investigation, has previously told SFGATE she trespassed because she believed dogs transferred to the rescue were disappearing and hopes Miranda will be held accountable. 

“Shannon’s lawyer should not allow him to put his lies into writing,” she told SFGATE. “He is only digging a deeper hole for himself.”