A Cedartown, Georgia, police officer has been placed on administrative leave after fatally shooting a family’s pet baby donkey during a predawn search at the owners’ Rockmart property, and a GoFundMe appeal the owner launched for legal action over the killing surpassed $35,000 by Monday.

The animal’s owner, Hannah Israel, wrote in a Facebook post that officers arrived at her pasture at Elsberry farm around 12:45 a.m. Sunday without notification or permission, reportedly searching for a missing person when they encountered HeeHaw, a small male donkey.

“They claimed he ran up to them braying and they thought they were in danger and shot and killed him after trying to taze him,” Israel wrote in her post, which featured a photograph of her kneeling beside the fallen donkey. “HeeHaw was raised in the house and did petting zoos [and] never knew a stranger. And was shot and killed in his own pasture for doing what donkeys do. Alerting to a stranger. There is no way this is legal.”

“We are heartbroken. He was my son,” Israel added.

Jamie Newsome, the Cedartown police chief, told local media including Coosa Valley News that an officer had been placed on administrative leave and that the department’s command staff had opened an investigation. The officer involved was not identified.

By Monday, neither the city of Cedartown nor the Cedartown Police Department had issued a public statement on the shooting. Israel’s post drew comments on social media criticizing the absence of an official statement.

The only official statement as of Monday came from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, which said its officers were not involved in the incident but that personnel from the separate police departments of Polk County and Cedartown were.

“We extend our sincere condolences to the family and everyone affected by this unfortunate incident,” the sheriff’s office said. “We understand the concern and sadness surrounding what occurred.”

The Polk County Police Department, Cedartown’s municipal government and its police department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israel said HeeHaw was bottle-raised and maintained the donkey was killed in his own pasture by “trespassing” cops. The GoFundMe she launched to support legal action over the killing surpassed $35,000 by Monday.

The Cedartown Police Department’s internal investigation into the shooting is under way.