Cedar the goat's owners sued after his slaughter. The California AG just filed a countersuit.

California officials are counter-suing a Shasta County family whose 4-H show goat was seized and slaughtered at the behest of Shasta District Fair officials last year.

The family originally sued the fair and sheriff’s detectives after the girl, who was then 9-years-old, changed her mind about auctioning off her show goat, Cedar. Despite her mother's pleas to let her daughter keep the goat, the animal was auctioned off at the fair.

Before the animal was destroyed, the family took the goat and left the county with it. Sheriff’s officials obtained a warrant and traveled hundreds of miles to Sonoma County to seize the goat and return it to Shasta County so it could be slaughtered for meat.

After the fair, the girl’s mother, Jessica Long, hired an attorney to file a lawsuit last year in federal court in Sacramento, claiming the girl’s rights were violated.

But this month, the California Attorney General's Office, representing the fair and others named in the suit, filed a counterclaim against the family, saying the girl violated the terms of a contract she signed to hand over the goat for auction at the fair.

The contract also indemnified the state, meaning the family agreed to pay for any costs for damages incurred, including court costs and attorneys fees arising from the family’s lawsuit against the fair, sheriff’s department, detectives and others named in the lawsuit.

That also means if the state and other defendants in the original lawsuit are ordered to pay damages to the family, Long and her daughter would have to reimburse the defendants for those costs, according to Long's attorney, Ryan Gordon, who also works for Advancing Law for Animals.

California's counterclaim called "nonsense"

Gordon called the state's counterclaim “nonsense,” and said it amounts to a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” or S.L.A.P.P., intended to scare off the family from going forward with the lawsuit.

State law prohibits S.L.A.P.P. lawsuits intended to discourage people from exercising their “constitutional rights of freedom of speech and petition for the redress of grievances,” according to the law. Gordon said he plans to ask a judge to dismiss the state’s counterclaim, based on the anti-S.L.A.P.P. violation.

“It's really preposterous. You don't waive your constitutional rights as a matter of law. You do not waive your constitutional rights by signing your kid up for a kids’ club,” Gordon said.

Indemnity clauses included in contracts are typically there to protect one of the parties from damages caused to a third party, he said. For example, if an animal bit someone at the fair and the bite victim sued the fair, the animal's owner would be liable for damages under an indemnity clause, Gordon said.

The Record Searchlight sent an email Thursday to the attorney general’s press office seeking comment, but the newspaper did not receive a reply by Friday afternoon.

The case of Cedar the goat has drawn nationwide attention and much debate in the news media and on social media about children raising animals for slaughter.

But it isn't clear why the attorney general's office has doubled down in its fight against a Shasta County family over the 4-H fair goat.

Long’s daughter raised the goat as part of a 4-H project and originally intended to put it up for auction at the fair. The goat was auctioned off, but the girl had bonded with Cedar, and she changed her mind and wanted to keep the goat, Gordon said.

Mother pleads to keep the goat

In a letter written to the fair manager on June 27, 2022, Long wrote that she and her daughter originally didn’t know the goat would be slaughtered. After they found out, they located someone who would take Cedar to join a herd of goats used to eat brush and grass to reduce fire danger in greenbelts, the letter says.

“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. I have been inspired to start a goat program where kids can raise goats and donate them to farmers who run fire clearing teams,” Long wrote in the letter.

She said she also contacted State Sen. Brian Dahle, who purchased the goat at the fair. Dahle agreed to relinquish the animal if it was sent to a farm where it would be used for fire clearance, Long said in the letter.

The fair’s livestock manager threatened to have her arrested if she didn’t return the goat, the letter says.

“If the only solution is to return the goat for slaughter and barbecue meat, then I will return it so that I am not charged with a felony,” Long said.

The day after Long wrote to the fair manager, fair CEO Melanie Silva wrote back to Long, asking her to return the goat.

“Making an exception for you will only teach our youth that they do not have to abide by the rules that are set up for all participants. Also, in this era of social media this has been a negative experience for the fairgrounds as this has been all over Facebook and Instagram, not the best way to teach our youth the value of responsibility. Unfortunately this is out of my hands,” Silva wrote.

“I have spoken with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and they have informed me that for the good of all we have to stick to the state rules. You will need to bring the goat back to the Shasta District Fair immediately,” Silva wrote.

On July 8, a sheriff’s detective obtained a search warrant to retrieve the goat at Bleating Hearts Farm Sanctuary in Napa, but the goat wasn’t at the sanctuary when deputies arrived, Gordon said. However, they found Cedar at a property in Sonoma County and brought him back to Shasta County to be slaughtered for meat, he said.

The search warrant was only valid for the farm sanctuary in Napa, so the sheriff’s deputies illegally seized the goat from the property in Sonoma County, Gordon said.

The sheriff’s office filed a report with the district attorney’s office asking officials to file grand theft of livestock charges, Gordon said. No charges have been filed, though, he said.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: California AG fights back on Cedar the goat lawsuit, files countersuit