After deputies took her pet goat to be butchered, girl wins $300,000 from Shasta County
A 9-year-old girl who fell in love with the goat she raised for the Shasta District Fair was heartbroken when deputies, wielding a search warrant, confiscated the furry livestock, taking him away to be butchered.Two years after the scandal erupted, Shasta County has agreed to pay $300,000 to the girl’s family to settle the legal dispute over the floppy-eared brown-and-white goat named Cedar.The young girl had raised the goat for the 2022 fair, as part of a program intended to teach youngsters how to care for farm animals.But when it came time to sell Cedar and turn him over to be butchered, Jessica Long’s 9-year-old daughter couldn’t do it.Long took the goat away from the fair, offered to pay for the costs, and pleaded with fair officials to let her daughter keep Cedar.
Instead, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office deployed deputies, search warrant in hand, to drive hundreds of miles across Northern California to find and take the goat from Billy’s Mini Farm, where Long had taken him until the dispute was resolved.It is not clear who contacted and instructed the sheriff’s office to get involved.
The case caused an uproar and, in a federal lawsuit, Long and her daughter alleged deputies wrongfully took out a search warrant, seized Cedar, and turned the animal over to fair officials.Attorneys also accused county and fair officials of using law enforcement to intervene in what they said was a legal civil dispute over who owned the goat.
Cedar, who was bought at the county fair for $902, was butchered, but it remains unclear who did it.California Dael Wilcox said Animal Services kidnapped Beatrice and Benito, his goats.
It took a lawsuit to get his hooved property back.Aug.26, 2024On Friday, U.S.
District Judge Dale A.Drozd approved the settlement that requires Shasta County to pay $300,000 to Long and her daughter to settle the federal suit out of court.“Unfortunately, this litigation cannot bring Cedar home,” said Vanessa Shakib, an attorney rep...