California officials unearth 117 dog bodies, many with bullet fragments, at ‘no-kill’ shelter

Investigators uncovered 117 dead at a northern California animal rescue sanctuary with many of the canine remains having evidence of gunshots Miranda s Rescue a sanctuary outside Fortuna described itself as a no-kill facility Investigators said the organization accepted hundreds of dogs each year from shelters across the San Francisco Bay Area in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding The Humboldt county sheriff s office announced on Friday that investigators had completed their excavation of the property marking the latest development in a months-long investigation Acting under a search warrant for grounds and buildings for evidence related to animal cruelty and fraud crews dug through areas of the property where authorities believed dogs had been buried in mass graves During the excavation investigators recovered 117 intact canine remains from two dig sites An additional 21 canine skulls hundreds of bones and six loose microchips were located in another dig location near where the intact animals were discovered authorities said in a Before excavation began investigators used ground-penetrating radar to locate irregularities beneath the surface Along with the intact remains they also found several loose microchips that investigators are now trying to connect to specific dogs According to the sheriff s office the 117 dogs were found in varying stages of decomposition At the scene 70 of the animal bodies underwent X-rays with investigators saying many of the corpses appeared to contain bullet fragments Most of those dogs had microchips and analysts are working to identify them using that information The other 47 dog bodies were taken into evidence but were not examined at the site because investigators ran out of time Sheriff s investigators also located an area inside a barn believed to be where the dogs were likely killed In that same area investigators located more than 600 dog collars the press release said A posted 18 June on the sanctuary s website by founder Shannon Miranda addressed two incidents that he said brought increased attention to the rescue According to Miranda both cases involved dogs with behavioral problems that he said had threatened employees volunteers and other animals He also asked people to withhold judgment until the investigation is complete The investigation was launched after a neighbor admitted entering the property without permission in April and digging up what they believed were buried dogs according to More than two months later authorities have not filed criminal charges against Miranda or any members of the rescue organization s staff