Investigators discovered the remains of 117 dogs in various states of decomposition at Miranda's Rescue Animal Sanctuary on about 50 acres in Fortuna, California. Many of the dog remains showed evidence of gunshot wounds; X-rays of at least 70 dogs found bullet fragments inside the bodies. The site contained 21 dog skulls, hundreds of other bones, and more than 600 dog collars recovered during the excavation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office began investigating in April 2026 after receiving credible information about felony animal abuse, cruelty, fraud, and conspiracy at the facility. A neighbor admitted to trespassing and digging up buried dog remains that same month, which helped trigger the official probe. Police also found a barn area on the property suspected as the location where the dogs were killed [1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 8].

Since January 2025, Miranda's Rescue had taken in roughly 900 dogs but has only confirmed 116 adoptions. More than 700 dogs remain unaccounted for. Six loose microchips found near the dig sites are being examined to identify individual animals [1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 8].

Shannon Miranda, the shelter’s owner and operator, denied wrongdoing in a statement posted online June 28. She said media coverage presented an incomplete and inaccurate picture and emphasized the sanctuary's mission to save animals while protecting public safety. "At Miranda’s Rescue, our mission is to save as many animals as we safely can—always balancing compassion for animals with our responsibility to protect families, children, other pets, and the public," Miranda said [8].

Sheriff William Honsal called the scene "horrific" and said the investigation is in its early stages. "This investigation is just getting started. There is a tremendous amount of data to process, witnesses to interview, and evidence to examine," he said June 29. No charges have been filed yet, and authorities are continuing to review evidence with state and federal partners [1, 5].

Authorities executed search warrants and excavation over June 25-26, recovering the remains and other evidence. The Sheriff’s Major Crimes Division is continuing to follow all leads as the investigation unfolds [1, 2, 3, 9, 4, 7, 10, 11, 5, 8].