Miranda’s Rescue in Humboldt County, California, is taking in dogs again.
The rescue has reopened after Humboldt County lifted the suspension of its conditional use permit, allowing animal intakes and adoptions to resume while a major criminal investigation into allegations of animal cruelty and fraud continues. No criminal charges have been filed against founder Shannon Miranda, who has denied wrongdoing.
For anyone who has followed this case from the beginning, that is a difficult development to comprehend.
In June, investigators excavating the Miranda’s Rescue property recovered more than 100 dogs. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal subsequently described evidence recovered from a barn on the property, including more than 600 dog collars, ammunition, a rifle and blood spatter. Investigators said many of the recovered dogs showed evidence of gunshot wounds.
The criminal investigation has not gone away. It remains active, and Sheriff Honsal has recently said investigators are entering the final few weeks of their work. Yet dogs can once again be accepted by Miranda’s Rescue.
Why Was Miranda’s Rescue Allowed To Reopen?
The answer lies in the difference between a land-use permit and a criminal investigation.
Humboldt County suspended Miranda’s Rescue’s conditional use permit after finding violations relating to the properties being used for rescue operations, an unpermitted structure and a dispute concerning activities permitted on the site. The suspension was not a finding that Miranda was guilty of the allegations being investigated by law enforcement.
Planning and Building Director John Ford subsequently said Miranda had addressed the three matters that resulted in the suspension, allowing it to be lifted. Miranda’s Rescue was therefore permitted to resume animal intakes and adoptions.
That distinction may make sense administratively. From an animal-welfare perspective, however, it exposes precisely the problem we have been examining throughout this case.
A planning department regulates the use of land and buildings. Law enforcement investigates potential crimes. Charity regulators oversee aspects of nonprofit organisations. None of those functions is necessarily the same thing as having one authority responsible for continually asking a very simple question:
What is happening to the dogs?
The Rescue Is Open, But The Permit Issues Are Not Over
Even the planning position is not completely resolved.
As part of a compliance agreement with Humboldt County, Miranda was required to submit an application for a grading permit by 30 September. The work relates to buildings affected by the Eel River’s 100-year flood level. As of 29 September, Ford told Jefferson Public Radio that he had not received the application.
Ford said Miranda’s Rescue would likely have to close again if it failed to comply with the timetable in the agreement.
There is another deadline on 15 October, concerning approval by Humboldt County Environmental Health of the property’s well and wastewater system.
So we now have the remarkable possibility of a rescue closing, reopening and potentially facing closure again through the planning system while the much larger criminal investigation continues separately.
The Dogs Cannot Become Secondary To The Process
This is why the Miranda’s Rescue case raises questions far beyond one organisation.
Public shelters and other rescue organisations transferred dogs to Miranda’s Rescue because they believed those dogs were moving somewhere safe. In some cases money was paid for dogs to be accepted. The subsequent investigation has forced shelters, rescuers and the public to ask what happened after those transfers.
We have argued throughout our coverage that a dog should never disappear from the system.
Reopening Miranda’s Rescue makes that principle even more important.
If new dogs are now entering the organisation, there should be a clear record of every one of them: where that dog came from, when they arrived, where they are housed and, eventually, whether they were adopted, transferred, returned or died.
The Criminal Investigation Is Approaching Its Next Stage
The next major development may now come from law enforcement rather than the planning department.
Sheriff Honsal has said the Miranda’s Rescue investigation is entering its final few weeks. That does not tell us whether charges will ultimately be brought, and we should not presume what prosecutors will decide. But after months of searches, excavation, forensic examination, interviews and examination of records, the investigative phase appears to be moving towards a conclusion.
Meanwhile, Miranda’s Rescue is open & dogs can enter again.
That makes the question we have been asking throughout this investigation even more urgent: who is responsible for ensuring that every dog entering Miranda’s Rescue from this point forward can be accounted for?
Because whatever happens next in the criminal case, we should not need another excavation to find out what happened to dogs entrusted to a rescue.