Bodycam video captures the tragic moment a Georgia police officer fatally shot HeeHaw, a beloved 1-year-old donkey.
The Cedartown Police Department released the footage showing HeeHaw—an animal barely waist-high to the officers—approaching inquisitively as police searched a field for a missing 12-year-old girl.
“Firearm discharged at a donkey. It was trying to attack us on a pasture,” Officer Trenton Garner told dispatch, according to the video.
The footage shows HeeHaw slowly walking toward the officers with his ears raised as they moved through Elsberry Riding and Farm ranch in Rockmart, Georgia, at about 12:45 a.m. on October 4.
HeeHaw approached one officer, who quickly fired a Taser. The device was ineffective, Garner wrote in an incident report.
Garner then shot HeeHaw with a Glock 17 from a distance of approximately 10 yards.
The injured donkey ran from the scene before collapsing. He was later found dead from the gunshot wound.
In his report, Garner said a Cedartown officer, a K-9 handler and a bloodhound team searching for the girl had managed to scare away horses on the property. He claimed HeeHaw was the only animal that charged at them.
Hannah Israel, HeeHaw’s owner, has disputed that description while mourning the loss of her young donkey.
“HeeHaw thought people were his family, and HeeHaw was family,” Israel told WSBTV.
“Cops entered my pasture searching for a missing person WITHOUT permission or warning and shot and killed my bottle raised BABY donkey,” Israel wrote online Sunday, adding that she intends to pursue legal action.
“We are heartbroken. He was my SON!!” she wrote.
Israel operates Elsberry Riding and Farm ranch, where HeeHaw was featured in the petting zoo.
Garner has been placed on administrative leave.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture is investigating the shooting.
Neither Israel nor the Cedartown Police Department responded to requests for comment.
