Lovemaking hedgehogs and runaway pigs are just some of the thousands of animal disturbances police attend every year.

Figures released to the New Zealand Herald show over a two year period, police were called out nearly 20,000 about troublesome animals.

In almost half the cases, no officers were sent to the scene.

But in one case police rushed to respond when a woman reported hearing a female screaming in the bush near her house.

Officers instead found a pair of mating hedgehogs, and decided no arrests needed to be made.

The statistics show that 37 per cent were about cattle.