POLK COUNTY, Ga. — Protesters are expected to gather Friday morning outside the Polk County Courthouse, demanding accountability and transparency after a police officer shot and killed a miniature donkey while searching for a missing 12-year-old girl.
The demonstration is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and comes days after the death of “Heehaw,” a 1-year-old miniature donkey killed during a search operation in Polk County.
According to a report released by Cedartown police, Officer Trenton Garner said he and K-9 teams from several agencies were searching near a pasture when horses became startled and ran away.
Garner wrote that a donkey then charged toward him and another K-9 handler. According to the report, the handler deployed a Taser, but Garner said it did not stop the animal.
“This, 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,” Garner wrote in his report.
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Heehaw died from the gunshot.
The officer has been placed on leave while the incident is investigated.
The donkey’s owner, Hannah Israel, disputes the officer’s account and says Heehaw was not aggressive.
“He was very well socialized. He would go to petting zoos with the kids and adults at nursing homes,” Israel told Channel 2 Action News. “Heehaw thought people were his family and he was our family.”
Israel said she wants to see body camera video from the encounter and plans to pursue legal action.
“I’ll be shocked, completely shocked if he was being aggressive,” she said. “He was not, like, an attack donkey or anything like that.”
No charges have been filed against Garner.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture is investigating the incident.
“We take animal death investigations extremely seriously,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement. “This incident will be investigated thoroughly and impartially, and we will make an appropriate recommendation once the investigation has been concluded.”
As the investigation continues, protesters say they want answers about what led to Heehaw’s death and whether the use of force was justified.
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