{"id":663568,"date":"2026-09-05T15:34:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=663568"},"modified":"2026-09-05T15:34:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:34:59","slug":"georgia-cop-under-fire-after-gunning-down-familys-beloved-baby-donkey-heehaw-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=663568","title":{"rendered":"Georgia cop under fire after gunning down family\u2019s beloved baby donkey HeeHaw"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Georgia police officer who gunned down a family\u2019s beloved pet donkey has been placed on leave after the shooting made national headlines, sparking outrage.<\/p>\n

The unfortunate incident went down when Cedartown police were searching for a missing 12-year-old girl in Polk County on Sunday, leaving behind a grieving owner amid questions about the necessity of shooting a defenseless animal.<\/p>\n

At around 12:45 a.m, Cedartown Police Department Officer Trenton Garner encountered the one-year-old, bottle-fed donkey whose name was HeeHaw in a pasture at the Elsberry Riding and Farm ranch in Rockmart and fired one shot at the animal after it allegedly charged at police.<\/p>\n

Garner, a K-9 handler, and a bloodhound team followed a trail of footprints to the petting zoo where they came across horses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we were tacking down the fence line, the horses in the pasture spooked and ran back away from us across the pasture,\u201d the officer wrote in his report.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, K-9 Handler Thomasson stated that there was a donkey on the side of the hill. The donkey then began to charge at us,\u201d Garner claimed, stating that efforts to subdue the animal with a Taser failed.<\/p>\n\n

(Video: YouTube\/Fox 5 Atlanta)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis in fact did not deter the donkey, so I removed my department-issued Glock 17 from its holster and pointed it at the donkey. I then fired a single round striking the donkey,\u201d the officer said, explaining the moment when he busted a cap into poor HeeHaw, who retreated up a hill before collapsing and dying.<\/p>\n

HeeHaw\u2019s bereaved owner Hannah Israel \u201cstated that the donkey would never act aggressive towards anyone, nor would it try to bite anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he saw somebody, he would run up and bray,\u201d she said in a video showing the doomed animal in happier days.<\/p>\n

\n

WATCH: Newly released footage of HeeHaw, the beloved family donkey, shows him excitedly running up to his owner prior to his tragic death.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he saw somebody, he would run up and bray.\u201d<\/p>\n

The baby donkey\u2019s owner, Hannah Israel, says the moment captures exactly who HeeHaw\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/iWW4hsVa45<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Fox News (@FoxNews) September 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cCops entered my pasture searching for a missing person WITHOUT permission or warning and shot and killed my bottle raised BABY donkey,\u201d she wrote<\/a> in a Sunday Facebook post saying that she is taking legal action.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeeHaw was raised in the house and did petting zoos he never knew a stranger. And was shot and killed in his OWN pasture for doing what donkeys do. Alerting to a stranger,\u201d Israel said, adding, \u201cWe are heart broken \"\ud83d\udc94\"<\/span> he was my SON!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not, like, an attack donkey or anything like that,\u201d Israel told a local news outlet.<\/p>\n

In a video posted to social media, Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome said that Garner has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement.<\/p>\n

\n

Georgia cop placed on leave after fatally shooting beloved donkey \u2018HeeHaw\u2019 during search for missing child https:\/\/t.co\/w3hEdyxVBS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/aSt0aPU6EM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 New York Post (@nypost) September 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe take animal death investigation extremely seriously. This incident will be investigated thoroughly and impartially, and we will make an appropriate recommendation once the investigation has been concluded,\u201d Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement, Atlanta\u2019s WSB-TV 2 reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The missing 12-year-old girl was found at a church near the pasture where HeeHaw was shot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Georgia police officer who gunned down a family\u2019s beloved pet donkey has been placed on leave after the shooting made national headlines, sparking outrage. The unfortunate incident went down when Cedartown police were searching for a missing 12-year-old girl in Polk County on Sunday, leaving behind a grieving owner amid questions about the necessity… Continue reading Georgia cop under fire after gunning down family\u2019s beloved baby donkey HeeHaw<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":663551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-663568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=663568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/663551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=663568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=663568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=663568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}