Moment police discover enormous heavy hippo statue blocking the road

When police officers receive emergency calls late at night, they have to be prepared to deal with anything that might come their way.

But those working for the North Wales Police service would have been struggling to ready themselves for what they found on Water Street in Rhyl, Denbighshire, last year.

Hilarious footage has emerged of an enormous heavy hippo statue blocking the road and requiring four officers to move the animal onto the path.

The bizarre incident was filmed by Josh Taylor, who recently posted the video onto his TikTok account @poweredbygreta with the caption: 'Police arrest hippo on night out.'

The clip has become a viral sensation, amassing more than 1.3million views and being liked more than 32,000 times.

In the video, viewers can see two cars in police livery arrive at the scene to find the hippo parked in the middle of the road.

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At one point, a passer-by can be seen riding the statue, before he appears to be asked to get off and speak to one of the officers.

Two of the four officers then attempt to move the hippo to the side of the road, but are unsuccessful and need the support of their colleagues to help get it onto the pavement.

According to Mr Taylor, the model hippo had originally come from the nearby Rhyl Children's Village and had been carried approximately half a mile from it's home by another group of lads.

It was at this point that Mr Taylor started recording the incident, as the hippo was left obstructing the road for 20 minutes before the police arrived.

He said: 'This was around this time last year but I've never posted it until now. It came from over the road at the Rhyl Children's Village. We saw a group of lads carrying it across the road, so I started recording. The hippo had been in the road for about 20 minutes before the police turned up.'

MailOnline have approached North Wales Police for a comment.

A similar incident was reported four years ago in Kent, when armed police and a helicopter were called to the village of Ightham after reports of a 'tiger' prowling through countryside.

But they were left embarrassed when the dangerous beast turned out to simply be a large model made from resin by local sculptor Juliet Simpson, 85.

Kent Police sent an armed response unit after receiving reports from shocked residents of the big cat skulking around the area.