Shasta County has agreed to pay $300,000 to a girl who tried to keep her 4-H raised goat after it had been auctioned off to someone else, according to a story in the L.A. Times. In 2022, Jessica Long’s 9-year-old daughter showed her goat, Cedar, at the Shasta District Fair and ownership changed hands after a $902 bid at the Junior Livestock Auction. The girl had a change of heart and couldn’t bear to part with her floppy-eared friend, so Long spirited the goat away to a rescue farm in Sonoma County while offering to pay the Fair for the associated costs. That offer was rejected, a search warrant was acquired, and Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputies drove to Sonoma County, seized the goat and gave it back to the Fair. It was slaughtered soon after. It’s still unclear who ordered the action. Long filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the County was wrong to intervene with law enforcement in a civil dispute. A federal judge on Friday approved the $300,000 settlement. The County did not admit wrongdoing, but said they settled to avoid the costs of a trial. Pending suits may still proceed against the Fair and a 4-H volunteer.
-Steve Gibson