HeeHaw never learned to be afraid of anyone.
Hannah Israel bottle-fed him from the time he was just a baby, on her farm in Rockmart, Georgia. She took him to petting zoos so other children could meet him. He was, as she tells it, a donkey who only knew how to approach people by braying, looking for affection.
That trust is what got him killed. In the early hours of Sunday, Cedartown police entered the property without permission while searching for a missing 12-year-old girl. HeeHaw approached them as he always did. One officer claims to have tried using a Taser before shooting him. The family does not believe that account.
Minutes later, the girl was found safe and sound near a church, just a few meters from the pasture where HeeHaw lay dead. The officer was placed on leave while the incident is investigated, and Hannah has already raised more than 100,000 dollars to seek justice for the donkey she raised like a son.
