A woman’s killing by multiple feral hogs outside of a rural Texas home where she worked as a caretaker was a rare deadly attack by the animals, authorities said.
Christine Rollins, 59, was attacked early Sunday in the small town of Anahuac, located more than 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Houston. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said Monday that the attack happened around 6 a.m., when it was still dark outside.
When Rollins didn’t arrive at her usual time at a home where she worked, the 84-year-old woman she cared for went outside and found Rollins in the yard, the sheriff said. She was lying between her own vehicle and the front door of the home, he said.
Deputies arrived to find Rollins dead with multiple injuries. Because there were different sizes of bites on her body, investigators think multiple hogs attacked her, Hawthorne said. The death will be ruled an accident, he said.
“This is a very rare incident,” the sheriff said, adding that a coroner ruled Rollins bled to death after the attack.
He said the couple living at the home where Rollins was heading to provide care have a residence that sits on property located near about a dozen acres of pasture and woods. It appears Rollins, who lived about 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the north in Liberty, arrived at her usual time, got out of her car and locked it before she was attacked, the sheriff said.
Tony Sandles Jr. said Tuesday that his mother-in-law, Rollins, was like family to the people she cared for. He said she’d been a caretaker for about 40 years — cooking, cleaning, housesitting and keeping those she cared for company. He said their homes became like her own.
“She was the most amazing woman that you could ever meet,” Sandles said.
He said Rollins loved sports and was a lifelong San Francisco 49ers fan despite being born and raised in Southeast Texas.
Sandles said his mother-in-law wouldn’t have gotten out of her car if she had known the hogs were near.
“She’s very, very cautious,” he said.