In a graphic video posted to Facebook, a woman captured a Maryland Deputy assisting a groundhog to cross the road.
What seemed to be a sweet gesture took a devastating turn when the Deputy leads the animal to the other side and shoots the animal twice in front of drivers.
The video then shows the Deputy walking to his vehicle, leaving witnesses confused.
"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," said the woman who recorded the video.
Carroll County Sheriff's office released a statement regarding the incident.
The deputy was traveling on Route 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.
The video has reached 46,000 views and over 740 shares.
