A Carroll County sheriff's deputy shot a groundhog that was holding up traffic Monday morning. 
 
 The Sheriff's Office said the deputy was traveling on Route 26 near White Rock Road, where traffic was stopped because of a groundhog in the road. 
 
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 Video of the incident posted on Facebook shows traffic stopped in both directions on Liberty Road in Eldersburg. The Sheriff's Office said the deputy tried to guide the groundhog off the road. The groundhog then went toward the deputy, who shot the animal. 
 
 Several residents e-mailed 11 News with concerns about the killing of the groundhog and the way the situation was handled by the sheriff's deputy. 
 
 The Sheriff's Office said in a statement, saying, "He realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety." 
 
 "It's unusual behavior. It's unusual behavior," said Karen Baker, executive director of the Carroll County Humane Society. 
 
 
 
 Baker can't comment on the groundhog in the incident but said wildlife usually runs away from, not toward humans, unless they're sick or injured. 
 
 "Under normal circumstances, an animal will take its easiest route of escape when it's threatened or frightened," Baker said. "Normally, an animal will run from humans, especially if you're making yourself large, you're stomping your feet, you're loud." 
 
 Baker said it happens frequently in Carroll County, which has rural and urban areas so close together. 
 
 "Right now, it's spring. Everything's coming out and mating, and so we are seeing a lot of wildlife and human conflict right now," Baker said. 
 
 The Humane Society retrieved the groundhog and said no testing will be done on it because it didn't have any known contact with humans or domestic animals. 
 
 Baker, speaking about wildlife in general, said anyone who encounters an animal acting strangely should call animal control. Or, if there's no time, "get to safety, don't turn your back to the animal. Try and keep something in front of you. If there's lawn furniture and you can grab a pillow, if you're walking and you have a bag or backpack, you want to make sure you put that in front of you, give the animal something else to focus on or to bite other than yourself." 
 
 Groundhog holes line Liberty rd in Eldersburg. One in particular caused a big problem. Details on #wbal pic.twitter.com/ajvbvswm8K — Kim Dacey WBAL (@kimdaceywbal) May 7, 2018 
 
 AlertMe ||||| SYKESVILLE (WJZ) — A video posted to social media shows a Maryland deputy shoot a groundhog as it was trying to cross a road. 
 
 The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputy was on Old Liberty Rd., near White Rock Rd., when he saw traffic backed up. 
 
 A groundhog was walking into the roadway, “causing vehicles to stop and creating a hazard.” 
 
 The deputy got out of his vehicle to get the groundhog away from the roadway, but the deputy reported that the groundhog was not acting normally. 
 
 “Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured,” the deputy shot the groundhog, and “put the animal down for the public’s safety.” 
 
 The woman who posted the video to Facebook says she was shocked, and “did not think that it would take this turn.” 
 
 Though she also said she was “sure the officer did the best thing in this situation.” 
 
 The sheriff’s office released the following statement: 
 
 The deputy was travelling on Rt 26 in the area of White Rock Road when he observed traffic backing up along the road. He found that the groundhog in question was walking into the roadway, causing vehicles to stop and creating a hazard. He got out of his vehicle to assess, and as he tried to direct the groundhog off of the roadway, he realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety. 
 
 Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook ||||| A deputy with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office fatally shot a groundhog in Eldersburg on Sunday in an incident captured on video that has been widely shared on social media. 
 
 The deputy stopped when he observed the groundhog acting oddly, department spokesman Cpl. Jon Light said. 
 
 “It doesn’t appear that it had bitten anyone at that point,” Light said. 
 
 It is unclear whether the groundhog was rabid, Light said. 
 
 In a statement, the sheriff’s office said the deputy stopped when the animal in the road, “causing vehicles to stop and creating a hazard.” 
 
 The deputy then got out of his vehicle, tried to direct the groundhog off the road and “realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety,” the statement said. 
 
 The incident occurred shortly after 4 p.m. at Liberty Road, near White Rock Road, where the deputy had stopped traffic in both directions. 
 
 Justyna Olkowska saw the encounter while driving home from her job as a payroll manager in Sykesville, and posted a video of it on Facebook that has been viewed over 37,000 times. 
 
 “You see the groundhog coming after the officer. At this point in time, the animal was not acting as a normal animal would. It is within our policy to dispose of any animal that could pose a health threat,” Light said. 
 
 The video shows the deputy stepping toward the groundhog, which doesn’t back away. The deputy then slowly backs into the next lane of traffic and the groundhog runs toward the deputy. The deputy then pulls his gun, gets down on one knee and shoots the groundhog once. The groundhog continues to roll around and the deputy then gets down on one knee again and shoots the groundhog a second time, and then walks back toward his patrol car. 
 
 “It started out as a cute encounter where I thought he was trying to help the little fella,” said Olkowska, who lives in Pikesville. “I obviously did not think that it would take this turn and was kind of shocked. I am sure the officer did the best thing in this situation. It is not for me to judge.” 
 
 Light said the sheriff’s office is reviewing the incident. 
 
 Light did not provide information about the deputy. 
 
 In 2014, Baltimore police shot and killed a 780-pound steer in the Mid-Town Belvedere after it escaped from a West Baltimore slaughterhouse. 
 
 During that incident, some witnesses expressed concern about police opening fire on the animal with people nearby, but a police said officers shot the steer because it had become "increasingly aggressive" and officers were unable to contain it. 
 
 jkanderson@baltsun.com 
 
 twitter.com/janders5
– "OMG. This cop is talking to the freaking groundhog." So begins a video posted to Facebook that shows a Maryland sheriff's deputy trying to get a groundhog out of a roadway, where it was backing up traffic on Monday. Justyna Olkowska, the woman talking over the video, soon turns from a giggling OMG to a gasping one as she films the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office deputy eventually shoot and kill the animal as it advances toward him. The Baltimore Sun reports the first shot didn't stop the animal from moving, so the deputy fired a second one and then returned to his car. WBAL reports the Humane Society later retrieved the remains but does not plan to test them for disease. CBS Baltimore has a statement from the sheriff's office, which explains the deputy "realized that it was not responding as expected for an animal that was not being cornered or trapped. Believing the groundhog to be either sick or injured, the deputy then put the animal down for the public’s safety." In her video post, Olkowska isn't as calm. "This just happened. And I’m soooo distraught!!!! Like I cannot believe I just witnessed this. ... I may be wrong and he might have been doing his job but all I kept thinking was what if my little niece and nephew were in the car with me seeing this." Her video has been viewed 100,000 times.