‘Good morning, HeeHaw’: his owner’s own words from three days before his death are now going viral after police shot him

A video showing a one-year-old donkey named HeeHaw has resurfaced online, filmed just three days before he was shot and killed by a police officer in Georgia. The footage shows the animal walking calmly toward his owner, Hannah Israel, and nuzzling against her as she greets him. Israel can be heard in the clip saying, “Good morning, HeeHaw,” while affectionately rubbing his mane.

As reported by UniLad, the moment stands in sharp contrast to what happened days later at the Elsberry Riding and Farm ranch in Rockmart, Georgia. Officers from the Cedartown Police Department had entered the property while searching for a missing 12-year-old girl, and the search escalated into the shooting shortly after midnight on Sunday.

Officer Trenton Garner, a K-9 handler who joined the department in July 2023, was working the search alongside K-9 Handler Thomasson when the incident occurred. According to an incident report, the officers encountered horses that became spooked and ran through the pasture before Thomasson spotted HeeHaw on a nearby hillside.

The encounter with the donkey escalated within moments

Thomasson reportedly attempted to stop the animal with a Taser, but the device had no effect as HeeHaw moved toward the officers. Garner then drew his department-issued Glock 17 and fired a single round, striking the donkey, who managed to move back up the hill before collapsing. The missing girl was later found safe at a nearby church.

Israel has said HeeHaw was bottle-raised and accustomed to human contact, having appeared at multiple petting zoos before his death. She disputed the officers’ account of the animal acting aggressively, and said in a statement, “Cops entered my pasture without permission and shot my baby donkey.”

Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome confirmed the officer’s administrative leave following the shooting, and a formal review by the department’s command staff is underway separately from the state probe. The Georgia Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement is now conducting an independent investigation into the circumstances of the shooting.

The case follows a string of recent incidents involving police shootings of family pets that have drawn public backlash and fundraising campaigns from affected families. Israel has said she intends to pursue legal action over HeeHaw’s death.

The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing, and the identity of the officer involved beyond Garner’s name in the incident report has not been further detailed by the department.