An 11-year-old girl in the US state of California will be receiving $300,000 from the Shasta County Sheriff's office after it seized the kid's pet goat, which was later slaughtered, according to a report in New York Times, citing court documents. The incident took place in 2022 when the girl was raising the goat, named Cedar, for the Shasta District Fair. The family had registered the four-month-old goat in the fair's junior livestock auction but as the event approached, the kid could not bring herself to part ways with Cedar on the auction block.
Jessica Long, the girl's mother sued the sheriff's office for selling and slaughtering the goat despite the family's best efforts to spare the animal. Ms. Long even took Cedar to a farm 320 kilometres away in Sonoma County to be kept safe.
Family threatened to return the goat
Meanwhile, CEO of the Shasta District Fair, B.J. Macfarlane threatened Long with a grand theft charge if the goat was not returned. Afterwards, two Shasta County Sheriff's deputies drove to the farm and seized the goat. The law enforcement officers did not have a warrant to search the farm and seize Cedar, the court documents added.
Ignoring the family's plea, Cedar was sold for $902, of which the fair was owed $63 and eventually slaughtered, leaving the girl inconsolable, who cried under the bed, as per Ms. Long.
"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," said attorney Vanessa Shakib, representing Long.
"We continue to litigate against the California fair entity and related employees, and 4-H volunteer."
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Shakib added that during the two-year litigation process, the fair and county officials engaged in "obstructionist discovery tactics" to delay the case and avoid answering the key questions. To this day, it is not clear who got the deputies involved and what happened to Cedar's remains.
During the settlement, Shasta County admitted no wrongdoing despite agreeing to fork out the money which will be held in a trust until Ms. Long's daughter, who is now 11, is a legal adult.
