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A Georgia police officer shot and killed a family’s beloved pet donkey after officers searched the animal’s pasture in search of a missing child who was later found at a nearby church.
Hannah Israel, 30, said officers entered her family’s property in Rockmart, Polk County without warning at about 12:45 a.m. on Sunday while looking for the missing child when they noticed the baby donkey named HeeHaw.
“They claimed he ran up to them braying and they thought they were in danger and shot and killed him after trying to Taze him,” Israel wrote on Facebook. “HeeHaw was shot and killed in his OWN pasture for doing what donkeys do. Alerting to a stranger. There is no way this is legal!”
She vowed to take legal action as she demanded justice for HeeHaw.
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“We are heart broken. He was my SON!!” she wrote.
“We miss him so much where is safe?? When my own baby was shot in his own home?” she added in another post.
A photo taken after the shooting showed Israel crying over her pet donkey, as the animal’s eyes remained wide open as it lay lifeless on the ground.
“He would normally be standing right over there talking while I’m talking because he thought he could talk like a person could talk,” Israel told 11Alive.
“Every time he saw somebody, he would run up and bray,” Israel said. “And then do a really goofy sound, and because he loved people, and he thought he was a person. He slept in my bed for the first three months of his life,” she added.
The Cedartown Police Department said the officer who shot the beloved baby donkey has been placed on paid administrative leave.
“The Cedartown Police Department has turned over the investigation of the animal shooting to the Georgia Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement Division for investigation and placed the officer involved on paid administrative leave while this investigation is ongoing,” the department said in a statement.
Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsom said body camera footage exists and he has viewed it, according to 11Alive.
“That search took them to the incident location where this very unfortunate and heartbreaking event occurred,” Newsom said, according to the outlet.
Newsom said he understands the heartbreak that the family and the community is facing after the donkey’s death.
“They’re members of the human family, and I am too, and heartbroken,” he said.
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The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Law Enforcement Division was at Elsberry Farm on Monday investigating HeeHaw’s death.
Israel created a GoFundMe to help cover legal costs related to HeeHaw’s death. She said any donations left over would go toward the farm, care of the animals and a future HeeHaw foundation. She has raised more than $113,000 as of Tuesday morning.
“My bottle baby donkey ‘HeeHaw’ was killed in his own pasture on Saturday night by trespassing cops,” she wrote on the fundraiser. “He was a loved member of our family and did many petting zoos and made many people smile.”
She said she hired a lawyer but stressed that donations left over after legal costs would not be used for personal needs.