This is the moment Chinese firefighters pull a dead heron from a city building after it flew into the wall mid-flight and impaled itself in the building facade like a spear.

The incident was filmed in the city of Songyuan in the Chinese province of Jilin and the footage has been widely shared by local media.

The bird, identified as a heron after it was found dead, reportedly slammed into the outside wall of a city building and was left hanging upright with its beak impaled in the facade.

Local residents spotted the bird and informed the emergency services with the fire brigade arriving on the scene shortly afterwards to rescue the heron.

After reaching its lofty position, firefighters realised the bird was already dead.

The local authorities later confirmed that it was a heron, a second-class national protected animal in China.

In the footage, firefighters are seen arriving at the building while a small crowd of people looks up from the pavement.

The motionless heron dangles from the outside pink wall and firefighters tug it free by its feet before the deceased bird flops into their arms.

It is unclear how the fire brigade disposed of the dead heron after freeing its trapped corpse from the city building.