California sheriff’s deputies have been forced to pay a girl’s family $300,000 after taking her pet goat and sending it to slaughter.
Jessica Long purchased the goat, named Cedar, in 2022 for her daughter who was enrolled in a youth development program in California.
The same year, the family entered the animal into the Shasta County District Fair junior livestock, where animals can be auctioned off for meat. Before the bidding started though, the family changed its mind and tried to tell the fair’s officials the girl no longer wished to auction Cedar off.
However, the Shasta Fair Association told the family that the fair’s rules prohibited the pet from withdrawing from the program.
California State Senator Brian Dahle, who ran for Governor against Governor Gavin Newsom, placed the highest bid for the animal at $902. The fair got a $63 cut in the sale and was supposed to pay $838 to the girl’s family.
But once the goat was auctioned off, the girl could not leave his side and sobbed next to him in his pen, court documents state. Long took the goat from the fair and told officials she would be willing to pay for any losses stemming from his removal. She then took Cedar to a farm 200 miles away in Sonoma County where she thought he would be safe.
A manager of the fair association informed Long that if she did not return the goat she would be charged with grand theft. However, Long and her family were still the rightful owners of the animal.
The mom pleaded with the manager to keep the money from the sale and let the girl have the goat but the offer was rejected Long even reached out to Dahle, whose representatives told her he would not resist her attempts to save the goat from slaughter and he waived his rights to the animal.
The mother wrote a letter to the fair’s officials telling them that she could not bear to let her daughter suffer another loss after the death of three grandparents in one year. Officials did not heed her pleas.
In July, a judge granted a warrant for the search and seizure of the animal at the Bleating Hearts Farm and Sanctuary in Napa County by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s deputies then drove 10 hours to Napa Valley to seize the goat from the location. When they arrived, they discovered the pet had never been in their custody.
The deputies drove to another farm, where they did not have a warrant for the search and seizure of the animal, took the pet before driving another 10 hours back to Shasta County.
The goat was finally taken to slaughter. In October 2022, the family filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s deputies who seized the animal, claiming they violated the law. Two years later the family has finally won the case.
In a written statement, Advancing Law for Animals, a non-profit that represented the family in litigation, said the goat’s story “reflects the broader issue of perceived government overreach in handling personal pets.”
“Unfortunately, this litigation cannot bring Cedar home. But the $300,000 settlement with the County of Shasta and Shasta County Sheriff’s Office is the first step in moving forward.”
