California Girl Wins $300,000 Settlement After Deputies Seize Pet Goat for Butchering
In a controversial case that stirred widespread outrage, Shasta County has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle part of a lawsuit filed by the family of a 9-year-old girl whose pet goat, Cedar, was seized by sheriff’s deputies and subsequently butchered. The young girl had raised Cedar for the 2022 Shasta District Fair as part of a program designed to teach children how to care for farm animals. However, when the time came to sell and slaughter Cedar, the girl was heartbroken and could not part with him. Her mother, Jessica Long, removed Cedar from the fair and offered to pay any costs incurred, pleading with officials to let her daughter keep her beloved pet.
Instead, in an unexpected turn of events, deputies from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant and traveled hundreds of miles across Northern California to seize Cedar from Billy’s Mini Farm, where Long had taken him for safekeeping. It remains unclear who directed the sheriff’s office to intervene in the dispute.
The family’s federal lawsuit against the county alleges that Cedar was wrongfully seized and that the search warrant was obtained without sufficient cause. Attorneys for Long and her daughter argue that county and fair officials misused law enforcement resources to settle what they claim was a civil disagreement over the goat’s ownership. Though Cedar was purchased at the fair for $902 and eventually butchered, it is still unknown who carried out the slaughter or what happened to Cedar’s meat.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd approved the settlement requiring Shasta County to pay $300,000 to Long and her daughter. Although the settlement provides some closure, attorney Vanessa Shakib, who represents the family, noted that it does not answer key questions about Cedar’s fate.
“Unfortunately, this litigation cannot bring Cedar home,” Shakib said. “But the $300,000 settlement with Shasta County and the Sheriff’s Office is the first step forward.” Shakib also stated that the two years of contentious litigation were marked by efforts from fair and county officials to avoid transparency, with “obstructionist discovery tactics” employed to sidestep answering questions about what really happened to Cedar and who ultimately made the decision to have him killed.
“Years later, this case still has several unanswered questions,” Shakib said. Despite extensive review of text messages, emails, phone records, and depositions, there is still no clarity on who ordered Cedar’s butchering, what happened to the meat, or who contacted law enforcement to escalate the matter.
During the federal lawsuit’s discovery phase, text messages were uncovered that hint at an attempt to keep Cedar’s fate under wraps. On July 22, 2022, Shasta Fair livestock manager B.J. Macfarlane messaged Shasta Fair CEO Melanie Silva, referencing Kathy Muse, a 4-H program volunteer and barbecue organizer. “Kathy said OK, but no one needs to know about this,” Macfarlane wrote. “U, me, and Kathy are the only ones. It got killed and donated to a non-profit if anyone asks.” Silva responded with a light-hearted comment, “We are a non-profit (laughing emojis).”
Long’s attorneys argue that uncovering who ordered Cedar’s death and who contacted law enforcement is essential to their case. Before Cedar was butchered, Long had reached out to sheriff, fair, and county officials, informing them of her intent to dispute ownership of the goat.
Shakib claims that despite this knowledge, someone made the decision to have Cedar seized and killed, even with a potential lawsuit pending. Shasta County, however, denies any wrongdoing. “The County did nothing wrong, but we recognize the risk and cost involved in going to trial, and so we agreed to settle the case,” stated Shasta County’s attorney, Christopher Pisano, in an email. “We are happy to be moving on and putting this case behind us.”
Requests for comment from Shasta County representatives and CEO Melanie Silva went unanswered.
While the $300,000 settlement resolves the family’s claims against Shasta County and the Sheriff’s Office, the legal battle is far from over. Long and her daughter continue to pursue claims against Shasta District Fair employees and a 4-H volunteer. According to Shakib, the legal team is still reviewing phone records and other documents in hopes of finally discovering what happened to Cedar and who orchestrated the chain of events that led to his death.
The Cedar case has sparked ongoing debate and public concern over the use of law enforcement in civil matters, particularly those involving children and animals, and it highlights the community’s frustration with what many view as an overreach of power.
