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Hogs in a field. Shutterstock.com

A Texas woman, who worked as a caregiver to an elderly couple, was attacked and killed by a pack of wild feral hogs on Sunday outside the couple's home in Anahuac in southeast Texas, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne, said.

Christine Rollins, 59, was discovered by the 84-year-old woman she cared for, lying in the front yard between her car and the front door, after Rollins failed to show up at the scheduled time. Rollins had presumably arrived at work during her usual hours, between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., when it was still dark outside. She had locked her car and stepped out of the vehicle, Hawthorne said at a news conference on Monday. Hogs typically roam about in the early hours and that's when Rollins may have been attacked while making her way to the elderly couple's house.

Rollins had multiple injuries that were consistent with animal bites. The Jefferson County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as "exsanguination due to feral hog assault", Hawthorne said.

Rollins had been caring for the elderly couple for almost two years.

"Unbelievably tragic. This is a very rare incident, just what little research we have found less than six of these have been reported in the nation," Hawthorne said.

Feral hogs had occupied the area around the elderly couple's 10 acres property. Hawthorne noted that the animals were a problem across Texas, especially Chambers County.

"In my 35 years, I will tell you, it's one of the worst things I've ever seen," Hawthorne said.

The sheriff extended his condolences to the Rollins family as well as the elderly couple.