- Got to teach them young to be afraid of the law.
Mary had a little goat; its fleece was white as snow. And then the cops showed up with a search warrant and dragged the goat off to the slaughterhouse.
We wish that was just a tasteless nursery rhyme parody we came up with. But exactly what a recent lawsuit claims happened to Cedar the Goat in California.
The lawsuit, filed by Advancing Law for Animals on behalf of Jessica Long and her 9-year-old daughter, claims that Deputies from Shasta County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) drove more than 500 miles to seize the little girl’s goat. Armed with a search warrant, Cedar was unceremoniously carried off.
As of now, Cedar is assumed dead and the girl crying.
At the root of the incident appears to be a dispute over the goat’s ownership rights. The goat was sold for meat at a local fair, but having lost several family members within a short time, the girl ultimately couldn’t bear parting with her goat too.
In an incredible display of tact and sensitivity, the fair organizers called the sheriff’s deputies to go and seize the goat. That was despite the girl’s mother offering to compensate both the fair and auction for any losses, the lawsuit states.
Now that’s how you teach a little girl to respect the law.
‘So Much Heartbreak and Sadness’
The events began in June 2022, according to the lawsuit documents. At the time, Jessica Long had taken her daughter — identified only as EL due to her age — to the Shasta District Fair in Anderson, California.
There, they were set to sell Cedar, the family’s goat for meat at a youth auction. However, at the last moment, the daughter changed her mind.
According to the lawsuit, the little girl “loved Cedar and the thought of him going to slaughter was something she could not bear.”
Now, some of you might think the girl was just in for a lesson in mortality. But the thing is, she’d had one too many of those lessons shortly before the fair.
“Our daughter lost three grandparents within the last year,” Jessica Long wrote according to Insider.
“Our family has had so much heartbreak and sadness that I couldn’t bear the thought of the following weeks of sadness after the slaughter.”
So, Long went to talk to the auction organizer and pleaded with them to withdraw Cedar from the auction. They wouldn’t budge.
In the end, Cedar was auctioned for $902. Shasta District Fair was set to take a cut off the sale price.
How big of a cut, you ask? Well, the fair was about to earn an astronomical $63.14.
Despite the auction, Long packed her daughter and Cedar back in her car and drove home. She then emailed Shasta District Fair — and they acknowledge receiving the email — and offered to compensate them for any lost earnings.
“I will pay you back for the goat and any other expenses I caused. I would like to ask for your support in finding a solution,” Long said in her email, as quoted by Sacramento Bee.
Get the Goat
Being the understanding people they are, Shasta District Fair agreed to work with the mother.
Nah, just kidding. They told Long that the whole experience would teach her daughter “responsibility.” They, and the goat’s buyer, threatened to have Long arrested for a felony for stealing Cedar.
Then they called the SCSO and told them to go get the goat.
Shasta County sheriff’s Lt. Jerry Fernandez and Detective Jacob Duncan drove more than 200 miles to the Bleating Hearts Farm and Sanctuary in Napa, California. Once there, they presented a search warrant and demanded the farm hand over Cedar.
According to the warrant, the officers had permission to “utilize breaching equipment” to break down any obstacles preventing them from getting to the goat.
But the goat was no longer at the farm. Long had moved the animal to her Sonoma County farm.
So, Fernandez and Duncan drove over there. Long story short, they packed Cedar into their car and took off — despite not having a warrant for the property.
According to a court filing, the SCSO claims they needed no warrant as Cedar’s owner — the Shasta District Fair — had consented to the goat being seized.
But more than 500 miles is a long way to drive and Fernandez and Duncan needed to stop for gas twice. Put together, the gas stops cost Shasta County $190.59.
Remember how the goat was set to earn the county a bit over $63? Tax money well spent.
Abuse of Authority?
According to the lawsuit, Cedar was delivered to an unnamed party “for slaughter/destruction.” But whether the goat is dead yet remains uncertain.
“At this time we don’t have that specific information and we can only speculate,” said attorney Vanessa Shakib from Advancing Law for Animals law firm.
“While it hasn’t been confirmed as a factual matter, we believe the goat Cedar has been killed.”
Advancing Law for Animals decided to take Long’s case on because they believe both Shasta Fair and County officials overstepped their authority.
“Looking at this case, what we see is county and fair officials improperly used their authority and connections to transform a purely civil dispute into a sham criminal matter,” said Shakib.
The attorneys aren’t the only ones to think so. An online petition asking for justice for Cedar has gathered more than 40,000 signatures at the time of writing this article.
Yet, whatever justice there may be will likely not unite the figurative Mary and her little goat.
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