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A California girl who sued police for seizing her beloved pet goat, which was then butchered, has been awarded $300,000 in a settlement.
Jessica Long’s daughter — who was just 9 years old when her goat, Cedar, was hauled off to the slaughter in 2022 — reached the settlement Friday, Nov. 1, with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and several of its officers, Courthouse News Service reported.
The mother sued the department in 2023 (read here), a year after officers traveled about 500 miles roundtrip to seize the goat without a warrant, all in the name of a state fair’s supposed rules that had no legal binding.
Her daughter was given Cedar in April 2022 and tended to him daily for months with plans to raise him for a livestock auction at the Shasta District Fair as part of a youth program.
But when Cedar was handed over to the fair around July of that year, the girl found she couldn’t part with the animal — especially since the auction he was slotted for was selling the animals for meat.
“After the auction, [the daughter] would not leave Cedar’s side.” the lawsuit read, according to Courthouse News.
“[She] loved Cedar and the thought of him going to slaughter was something she could not bear. While sobbing in his pen beside him, [she] communicated to her mother she didn’t want Cedar to go to slaughter.”
But when Long tried to intervene, the fair said its rules wouldn’t allow Cedar to be removed from auction — despite there being nothing legally binding before sales in its auction code. So Cedar was sold — to Republican California State Sen. Brian Dahle — at a gavel price of $902, 7% of which was to go to the auction.
Dahle later agreed to nullify the purchase — no funds were ever exchanged — and Long offered to pay the fair its $63 commission.
Despite this, the fair refused to release Cedar, so the mother snatched the goat and took him away to a farm in Sonoma County — and the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant to seize the goat for the fair.
Police drove about 500 miles roundtrip to take back Cedar, only to find that they had a warrant for the wrong farm.
They finally located the goat and seized him without a warrant, according to Long’s lawsuit.
Exactly what became of Cedar is unclear — but it is believed he was handed over to fair personnel, who slaughtered him and threw his meat in among the selections at a community barbecue.
Despite the settlement, Long said her daughter, who is now 11, remains heartbroken.
“The young girl who raised Cedar lost him, and Cedar lost his life,” the lawsuit read.
“Now plaintiffs can never get him back.”
The settlement will be put in a trust for the young girl, according to Courthouse News.
Litigation with defendants from the Shasta District Fair and the youth program involved is still ongoing.
The Shasta District Fair and Shasta County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond do a request for comment.
