Parents have accused law enforcement of killing their daughter's baby goat.
After Jessica Long’s family purchased the animal in April, their plan was to sell it at a county auction fair.
However, the young daughter fell in love with the goat and didn't want to let go.
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Naming it Cedar, court papers say that 'she loved him as a family pet'.
Unfortunately, it seems that the family's request to to pull out of the auction were refused, reports The Sacramento Bee.
"After the auction, (the girl) would not leave Cedar’s side," the lawsuit said.
"While sobbing in his pen beside him, (she) communicated to her mother she didn’t want Cedar to go to slaughter."
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The lawsuit claims that the little girl, part of a youth agriculture program, 'exercised her statutory rights' as a minor to pull out of any contact that was arranged with the fair.
It was then decided to keep the goat at a farm in Sonoma County in the meantime, to avoid any controversy in the community.
Nevertheless, in July, 'two sheriff’s deputies left their jurisdiction in Shasta county, drove over 500 miles at taxpayer expense, and crossed approximately six separate county lines, all to confiscate a young girl’s beloved pet goat', the lawsuit states.
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"As a result, the young girl who raised Cedar lost him, and Cedar lost his life."
Long said in a letter to the fair association: "Our daughter lost three grandparents within the last year and 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."
"She was pretty upset when I told her," Jessica Long also said in an interview Wednesday.
"She cried the whole night. When she thinks about him she’s upset.
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"They don’t know how mean they are and she asks why they did that."
"The high bid for Cedar’s meat was $902, far over market rate, as bidders typically overpay for meat at such auctions because it means more money to the child exhibitor," the suit added.
"Of that amount, the Shasta Fair Association was only entitled to $63.14, and was to pay the remaining $838.86 to (Cedar’s owner)."
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Gordon, a co-founder of the nonprofit law firm Advancing Law for Animals, said: "They had a right to a hearing before they killed him.
"The cops don’t get to say in my determination that guy over there owns it.
"We don’t have all the facts yet, but the sheriff’s deputy told me they gave him ‘to who we deemed was the owner'."
UNILAD have contacted Shasta county sheriff department for comment.
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Anish Vij