Image copyright North Ridgeville Police Department

Police are used to getting unusual calls, but one man in the US state of Ohio made a particularly memorable one in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Officers assumed the man was either hallucinating or drunk when he said a persistent pig was following him home.

"(We) responded to the obviously drunk guy walking home from the bar at 5:26 in the morning," they said on Facebook.

But when they arrived they found a "very sober" man who wasn't too keen on bringing home the bacon.

The unidentified "victim" was indeed being followed by a pig and didn't know what to do, the North Ridgeville Police Department said.

An officer was able to "wrangle" the swine into the back of his police car and even managed to snap a photograph.

It was then taken to the cells - or more accurately the police dog kennels - before being returned to its rightful owner on Sunday morning.

"We will mention the irony of the pig in a police car now so that anyone that thinks they're funny is actually unoriginal and trying too hard," the police quipped.