No one forced the child to participate in 4h. My sister participated in a kill show and before my sister even got the animal my mother made sure she understood its a kill show. At this point it wasn’t about the animal it was the lesson that you should not commit theft of property because you changed your mind. If you get a haircut halfway through you can’t just stop. You have already cut half your hair. She has now taught her child the lesson that she can commit a crime to get out of anything. Heck taking the animal back was the best outcome. Her parents could have faced prison time.

I disagree. The parents taught the child that the child matters and they feelings about a situation matter. There is no need for a kill auction of these animals as proven in many other states. Additionally the child isn’t legally old enough to be held to a contract so essentially the fair stole the goat.

When the rule of law is not respected, all civil society is at risk. If you don’t want to be involved with eating animals or raising animals for meat, by all means don’t be, but don’t pretend that choosing vegan or vegetarian diets does not involve the death of many creatures, and huge detriment to the environment, because it does. Enrolling a 9-year-old child in this program without the intention of following through was a cruel stunt by the parents.

While I see value in 4-H programs and their intent/ability to help kids understand & come to terms with the nature of animal husbandry & slaughter for meat, I also believe it is the responsibility of the 4-H leaders & parents to prepare a minor, especially the youngest of them, every step of the way.
Some kids will not be cut out for raising animals for terminal sale, even with the closest care & attention. At that point it should be up to the parents whether or not to press the issue & proceed with the sale.
Minors do not possess the faculties required to sign legally binding documents, therefore they cannot be enforced- and I believe trying to force the issue as a 4-H leader is only going to hurt the broader interest of the program.
Vetting & training of the parents should probably be a much larger part of the program going forward since it’s no longer true most of the parents have the background necessary to adequately prepare their kids for the reality of a terminal sale. You can think something is a good learning experience, but at the end of the day if you don’t know, you don’t know. Otherwise, what are the kids really learning? That 4-H is a cruel place that kills their pets.
That girl raised her goat as a pet. Shouldn’t have maybe, but did. Mistakes were made all around, but it wasn’t that girl’s fault & it was mishandled at the point she wanted to take her animal home & her parents backed it.
The fair shouldn’t have taken possession in this case. It’s done a considerable amount of harm to the reputation and viability of 4-H, for the youngest age groups especially.
The buyer didn’t even contest them backing out of the sale. Monetary compensation was offered both to the fair & to the buyer & if this arrangement was acceptable to the buyer, the fair was so far in the wrong for how they handled it, I’m more angry with them for crossing the line into parenting the child instead of just being a resource for learning. In the real world, you can back out of a contract if you can reach an agreement with the intended buyer. Legally, that kid was allowed to back out no matter what.

Too late, the Fair dictators sent out the police who forcibly took back the goat and sent it to slaughter!