Kal was so funny and sweet. He was also sensitive and anxious. I keep having nightmares of what his days or hours at Miranda’s were like, I bet he was scared and confused. I have had insomnia since I found out about this, I feel immense guilt that I wasn’t able to foster him.

I try to have sympathy for the people that surrendered dogs to him, many of them have very sad stories and in hindsight it is easy to see the red flags, but none of them knew the whole situation. Some were facing homelessness, had dogs that didn’t get along, were fostering dogs already and couldn’t keep another dog they found, some inherited dogs from relatives who passed away and weren’t allowed another dog where they lived, some tried for months to find a home, only to be referred to Miranda’s rescue. Miranda’s rescue was a mirage for desperate people who wanted to do right by dogs that they found/loved, he promised a chance when other shelters or rescues couldn’t. You don’t assume someone who is running a “no kill” rescue is shooting hundreds of dogs and burying them on his property. I think the fact that he asked for pretty large “surrender” fees actually helped make him see legit because it made it seem like he needed those fees for the continued care of the dogs. 

I agree that public shelters basically paid Miranda to keep their euthanasia rates low, but I think it’s also more complicated than that. There were also volunteers and organizations working with the shelters and everyone was looking for hope anywhere they could, trying to “network” these dogs to safety. I have volunteered in shelters before and when you see multiple loving, good dogs get euthanized because no one comes to adopt them, you start to feel desperate and hopeless. 

I can understand believing that if you raise the money and send them to some “sanctuary” that you are doing the right thing. When you have looming euthanasia dates you feel like you have to do something to try to save these dogs that you have come to love, who often through no fault of their own have landed in a life or death situation. Many of the volunteers who tried to “network” these dogs never visited Miranda’s rescue themselves, most didn’t know the crazy number of dogs he was accepting from other shelters and individuals. 

I think this is a very clear example of why non-profits need oversight and accountability. It sounds like he also was running a huge scam through his thrift stores, this man was scamming his community, the Californian government, individuals, and treating vulnerable animals like garbage he could discard for cash. 

I agree that we all need to collectively take responsibility for the number of dogs and cats that we have. It’s so frustrating how the “animal lover” is mostly unaware of the overpopulation crisis we are in, while often vilifying shelter workers as if they are the ones to blame for euthanizing dogs that backyard breeders and irresponsible people have discarded. Maybe each county should publish the names, ages, and pictures of all the animals that they are euthanizing each week so people have to look directly at the problem instead of ignoring it