Deputy stops traffic to shoot 'odd' groundhog on side of the road, video shows
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A sheriff's deputy stopped traffic on a Maryland road Sunday because of a groundhog that was acting erratically. The deputy shot and killed the animal, and a bystander's video of the incident has gone viral.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s deputy became involved as he was traveling down an Eldersburg road when he saw that traffic was backed up because of a groundhog, according to the New York Daily News.
The deputy stopped traffic on both sides of the road after watching the groundhog acting odd, public information liaison Cpl. Jon Light told the Baltimore Sun.
In the Facebook video posted by Justyna Olkowska, the deputy can be seen trying to usher the groundhog off the road.
During this process, the groundhog moved aggressively toward the deputy multiple times, ultimately prompting the deputy to draw his gun and drop to his knee before shooting the charging animal, according to wbaltv.com.
Despite being shot, the groundhog continued to roll around, and the deputy again dropped to a knee and shot it a second time before walking back toward his patrol car, the Baltimore Sun reported.
"This just happened. And I’m soooo distraught!!!! Like I cannot believe I just witnessed this," Olkowska wrote on her Facebook post. "Police shooting (groundhogs) in a head in broad daylight."
Olkowska followed by saying, "I may be wrong and he might have been doing his job," which is what the sheriff's office said is exactly what the deputy did.
"He realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped,” Light said, according to foxbaltimore.com. “Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety.”
When speaking to the Baltimore Sun, Light added, "It is within our policy to dispose of any animal that could pose a health threat."
While the deputy left the groundhog's carcass on the side of the road to get traffic moving, it was soon retrieved by the Humane Society, according to wbaltv.com, which added that no testing for rabies will be done on the groundhog because it had no known contact with humans or domestic animals.
The incident is being reviewed by the sheriff's office according to Light, who did not identify the deputy in video, The Washington Post reported.
It's possible he has been identified on social media because of the popularity of the Facebook video. The clip of the groundhog's last day was viewed more than 70,000 times by 11 p.m. Monday, with more than 1,000 shares and nearly 1,000 reactions.
"It started out as a cute encounter where I thought he was trying to help the little fella. I obviously did not think that it would take this turn and was kind of shocked," Olkowska told the New York Daily News. "I am sure the officer did the best thing in this situation. It is not for me to judge."
This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 6:35 AM with the headline "Deputy stops traffic to shoot 'odd' groundhog on side of the road, video shows."