Security guard desperately tries to stop hippo from escaping enclosure at zoo

People are flooding to weigh in on footage of a security guard trying to stop a hippo escaping its zoo enclosure.

If you visit the zoo, you may want to get as close to the animals as possible, but you probably still expect there to be a pretty sturdy barrier separating you from the big cats, gorillas or hippos.

However, at one zoo several visitors got the shock of their lives after a hippo began ascending the side of its enclosure and clambering over to the pedestrian zone. Prepare for your mouth to drop open in horror:

The resurfaced footage was shared to X by @crazyclipsonly on 15 February.

The video shows a hippopotamus - the deadliest land mammal on the planet - towering over the side of a hedge and wall which separates its enclosure from a path visitors are walking on.

As people stand back recording, a security guard can be seen giving the hippo a slap on its face - the animal then gaping its huge mouth, bearing its even bigger teeth at the member of staff.

After a few more slaps and the hippo opening its mouth in response, the animal eventually retreats back into its enclosure and the water.

And it's not taken long for people to flood to the comments to weigh in on the enclosure, hippo and security guard's actions.

X/ @crazyclipsonly

One X user said: "There is clearly a problem with the design of the enclosure."

However, another added: "I feel bad for him, he just wanted to play. He looked so sad when getting back in."

And the discussion has spilled over onto Reddit too, u/padmanbhapillai posting the video to the thread r/WTF.

U/wogsta100 said: "Either that security guard knows exactly what he’s doing or he’s the biggest idiot ever who was very lucky to have not been killed."

U/TwentyandTired added: "I wouldn’t be hanging around to watch or record, my a** would be halfway across the zoo the minute he got out of that enclosure."

X/ @crazyclipsonly

"Whoever made that enclosure needs to go back to school. Those things are dangerous. Thankfully he didn't attack," u/pb568 commented.

U/prousstibat simply wrote: "So sad for those animals we decided to deprive of their right to exist freely."

And a final, u/FatQuack resolved: "1.I can't blame the hippo for wanting to be free.

"2.I do blame whoever designed that enclosure. The hippo shouldn't be able to just pull itself up onto a public area."

So, what do you think?