A Georgia police officer shot and killed a family’s pet donkey on fenced private land while searching for a missing child, and newly released bodycam footage is now forcing a federal court to decide whether officers broke the law to get there.
Story Snapshot
- Officer Trenton Garner shot a one-year-old miniature donkey named HeeHaw inside a fenced pasture in Cedartown, Georgia.
- The family’s federal lawsuit claims officers entered the enclosed property without a warrant or permission during an overnight search for a missing 12-year-old girl.
- Garner’s own incident report says the donkey charged at officers and a Taser failed to stop it before he fired his weapon.
- The Georgia Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement Division is running an independent investigation while Garner stays on paid leave.
Bodycam Footage Reveals Fatal Encounter on Private Land
WSB-TV released body-camera video showing the moment Officer Trenton Garner shot HeeHaw, a one-year-old miniature donkey, while officers searched an open field near Cedartown for a missing 12-year-old girl. Owner Hannah Israel says the donkey was raised as a family pet and “would not hurt anyone.” She fought for months to get the footage made public, and the department finally confirmed its existence after sustained pressure.
Israel’s property was fenced and enclosed, which matters a great deal under the Fourth Amendment. Courts across the country have ruled that killing a privately owned animal counts as a government “seizure” of property, meaning officers must have a reasonable basis before using deadly force against it, not just a hunch.
Officer Says Donkey Charged After Taser Failed
Garner’s incident report tells a different story. He wrote that HeeHaw “began to charge” toward him and a K-9 handler after nearby horses were spooked near the fence line, and that the handler tried to scare the donkey off using a Taser’s electrical arc. When that failed to stop the animal, Garner says he drew his Glock 17 and fired a single round, after which the donkey retreated up the hill before collapsing.
Garner later told a supervisor and dispatchers he fired to protect the K-9 handler and the bloodhound team searching for the missing girl, framing the shooting as a split-second safety call rather than an act of carelessness. That account, drawn from his own written report, is the central piece of evidence police will rely on to defend the shooting in court.
Family Lawsuit Alleges Warrantless Entry and Excessive Force
Israel filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in the Northern District of Georgia on September 11, 2026, alleging officers entered her enclosed pasture without a warrant or her consent. The suit claims the shooting amounted to unreasonable destruction of private property and that HeeHaw “did not present an immediate threat” justifying deadly force. The complaint seeks damages and accountability from the department.
This case lands squarely in a well-worn area of law. Federal appeals courts have repeatedly held that shooting a family’s dog or livestock without an imminent threat violates the Fourth Amendment, since pets and animals are legally “effects” entitled to the same property protections as any other possession.
Investigation Continues as Legal Battle Tests Police Powers
Cedartown placed Garner on paid administrative leave, and Police Chief Jamie Newsom confirmed the Georgia Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement Division is conducting an independent review separate from the department’s own findings. Newsom called HeeHaw’s death a “tragic loss” but has declined to share further details of the bodycam footage while the outside investigation remains open.
🚨🇺🇸 Newly released bodycam footage shows a Georgia officer fatally shooting HeeHaw, a one-year-old miniature donkey, while searching for a missing girl.
The officer said the donkey charged and a Taser failed to scare it away. The owner has filed a federal lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/yxEB8nw79O
— The Daily Brief News (@TDBNEWS1) October 10, 2026
No findings have been announced, and the lawsuit’s claims about the warrantless entry and the reasonableness of the shooting have not been ruled on by any court. Investigators had also launched a formal review by early October, underscoring that officials themselves considered the case serious enough to warrant outside scrutiny rather than an internal pass.
For a family that says their missing-child search ended with a dead pet and a trampled fence line, the fight now moves to federal court, where a judge will have to weigh one officer’s claim of self-defense against a property owner’s right to keep government agents off her land without a warrant.
Sources:
wsbtv.com, newsweek.com, coptalklive.org, ktvb.com, cleveland.com, fox5atlanta.com, internewscast.com
