Days after a sheriff’s deputy in Maryland opened fire on an aggressive groundhog, another groundhog terrorized a woman a few miles away, authorities said.
On Tuesday morning, the Humane Society of Carroll County, the county’s contractor for animal control services, received a call that a groundhog had “come after” a woman when she arrived at work in Eldersburg, Md., said Karen Baker, the organization’s executive director.
The woman took refuge in her car, Baker said. When other people at her office came out of the building to help her, the groundhog menaced them, leading them to retreat inside.
The groundhog was gone by the time animal control officers arrived at the scene, Baker said, so they set a trap. The trap was empty in the afternoon, but the groundhog was later found at the scene, ready to fight. Officers removed the animal and euthanized it.
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Baker said the animal would be tested for rabies, but officials don’t think there is a rabies outbreak. Though groundhogs don’t typically attack people, groundhog-human interactions are common.
“We do this every single day with groundhogs,” she said. “It’s not an uncommon occurrence.”
Baker said the attack occurred a few miles from Liberty and White Rock roads in Eldersburg, where a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot an aggressive groundhog on Sunday. District Cpl. Jon Light, a spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, said the deputy believed the groundhog was “acting oddly.”
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