Miranda's Rescue: A Partner in the Community

Miranda's Rescue is very active in the local community:

• Developmentally Disabled Adults from the Diane Cathey center in Fortuna come to the shelter to walk dogs and groom cats.
• This year Shannon has worked with more than 45 teenagers on probation who do community service at the rescue. These young people walk dogs, groom cats and horses, clean litterboxes, and do many other chores. He works them hard but they love it! (Miranda's Rescue is the top requested site for kids to do their Community Service.)
• There is a dog agility course at the rescue that is used by many different groups for dog training and agility.
• There is a new gymkhana course (horse agility) at the rescue that is used by many groups of young people, some handicapped, at no charge.
• Shannon visits care homes frequently with “therapy animals” to brighten the day of handicapped and elderly people.
• Shannon talks at assemblies at many local schools, discussing animal care, the importance of spay and neuter, and how to approach strange dogs.
• During the school year, we provide tours of our rescue to hundreds of local school children.
• Miranda’s Rescue provides many opportunities for community members to volunteers. There are now over 40 active volunteers who do everything from cleaning cat boxes and walking dogs to answering phones and writing newsletter articles. The rescue could not function without all these wonderful volunteers.

A Little History about the Shelter

MIRANDA’S RESCUE: IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR

Shannon Miranda has been rescuing animals in dire straits since he was a child. He was born December 5, 1970 in the small, scenic Victorian Village community of Ferndale, CA (Pop. 1,400). It’s a beautiful place nestled in the Eel River Valley. It’s the home of the famous “Avenue of the Giants” (Redwood Trees). Contrary to his nature, he was born into a family of hunters and grew up saving whatever critter he could. He gained respect and experience while training mustangs (wild horses) in high school.

In October ’94, Shannon’s life forever changed. While working at a local lumber mill, he fell 30ft through an unstable floor, which left him wheelchair bound with a broken neck and back. The diagnosis was that he would never walk again. For Shannon Miranda, this was a “wake-up call”. He was seriously injured and unable to return to any form of a structured job and father to a 5 day old son. Shannon is not one to lie around feeling sorry for himself. Working with animals was his true calling. Raising his son and doing rescue work became his form of physical and emotional therapy.

It was one year before he was out of the wheelchair and walking again. And by that time, he had already acquired a menagerie of rescued horses, cats, dogs, rabbits, a possum, and a family of raccoons, even guinea pigs. Needless to say, with an ever-growing need of animals in search of loving homes, Shannon’s rescue quickly outgrew its surroundings at his trailor home in Ferndale. He soon moved to the Ferndale Coppini Dairy. It was here in 1997 that he incorporated as the nonprofit, Miranda’s Large and Small Animal Rescue.

The rescue is a “no-kill” facility meaning that an animal that is adoptable or reasonably treatable could find sanctuary at Miranda’s Rescue. Naturally all cats & dogs are spayed or neutered before placement. His operation was such a success that Shannon once again outgrew his spot on Coppini Lane within four years.

In late 2001, a family in Fortuna who have been longtime friends of Shannons’ decided to sell their property. The location was a perfect fit for the rescue. Not only did it have over 30 acres to build on with a barn and a beautiful house to boot along Eel River, but it was the very place where he began rescuing and learning about animals. But how could he ever afford such a place? Up stepped a rescue supporter who purchased the property so that Shannon could rent-to-own the property from her, enabling them to begin building the rescue of his dreams. It was open to the public in early 2002!

In spring of 2004, Shannon met his soul mate and best friend, Dean Paris, who had moved to the area from Boston, Massachusetts. With Shannon’s knowledge of animals and Dean’s business background they soon began operating the rescue together.

In early 2005, the rescue suffered a terrible blow. The very person who purchased the property for Shannon as a rent-to-own, decided to sell the property. “Praise the Lord” for those who adore Shannon’s work. After many months of negotiating, another well-known Humboldt County family, whom are close friends of Shannon and Deans’, purchased the property in June 2006. They would rent only to Miranda’s Rescue and in the future Shannon and Dean would have the option to purchase the property. God Bless You!

Presently in 2006, Shannon and Dean work side by side raising their family, rescuing animals and operating their new thrift store, which opened in March 2006. Along with their staff of amazing volunteers, they take care of 300-500 large and small animals on any given day. This includes many different types of exotic birds, horses, geese, llamas, alpacas, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, turtles, roosters & hens and even Japanese Koi fish too! We’ve even had camels, chinchillas, emus and reptiles such as a python and boa. Their 12yr old son, Blake, helps with the horses and their 7yr old daughter, Mikayla, bottle-feeds orphaned kittens and has been known to board little critters under the covers in her own bed. She loves riding horses and even has trophies to prove it! And their 3yr old son Logan is a big horse fan too. You can see him with his Dads on a sunny day riding his horse Maggie.