Officer Identified in Baby Donkey Shooting
A Georgia police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a baby donkey has now been identified in an incident report reviewed by the Daily Mail. According to the report, Cedartown Police Department Officer Trenton Garner was the officer who shot and killed HeeHaw, a donkey owned by Elsberry Riding and Farm. The animal’s death has drawn outrage after the farm’s owner, Hannah Israel, said police entered the family pasture without permission or warning while searching for a missing person. It is the kind of story that makes regular folks ask a simple question: how exactly does a baby donkey end up on the wrong end of a police Glock?
Missing-Child Search Led Officers Into the Pasture
The report says Garner had been called to assist a bloodhound team searching for a missing 12-year-old girl. Due to what the report called the “exigency of locating this missing juvenile,” officers entered a pasture owned by Elsberry Riding and Farm, a local business that offers petting zoos, pony rides, and trail rides. Once inside, the report says officers encountered horses that became scared and ran away into the pasture. Garner claimed HeeHaw then charged at them. According to the report, a K-9 handler tased the donkey, and when that allegedly did not work, Garner pulled out his Glock 17 and shot the animal.
Garner Said He Was Protecting the Search Team
Per the incident report, Garner said shooting HeeHaw was the only way to protect himself, the K-9 officer, and the team of bloodhounds. He later stated that he informed his sergeant and the animal’s owner. That is the official explanation, though many people are not buying it, especially given HeeHaw’s age and the family’s description of the animal. Police officers do face real danger, and a missing-child search is serious business, but the public still has every right to question whether deadly force against a farm animal in its own pasture was truly necessary.
Owner Says HeeHaw Was Raised Around People
Israel previously wrote on Facebook that at 12:45 a.m., police entered her pasture “WITHOUT permission or warning” and shot and killed her “bottle-raised BABY donkey.” She said HeeHaw was raised in the house, worked petting zoos, “never knew a stranger,” and was killed in his own pasture for doing what donkeys do, alerting to a stranger. Israel also wrote, “There is no way this is legal! I will be taking legal action.” The Cedartown Police Department has since placed Garner on leave and is investigating the shooting, which is exactly what should happen when government force leaves a family animal dead and a community demanding answers.
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