A 59-YEAR-OLD woman has died after being attacked by a pack of feral hogs in Texas in what the county sheriff described as “one of the worst things I’ve ever seen”.

Christine Rollins was attacked outside a home in Anahuac, east of Houston, where she worked as a caregiver to an 84-year-old woman.

Her body was later found by the elderly woman after she didn’t turn up for her shift on Sunday.

“This is an unbelievably tragic, a very rare incident. In my 35 years I will tell you it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen,” Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said on Monday.

Hawthorne explained that bites and bruises of varying sizes made it clear that multiple animals were involved in the attack.

He said that wild boars had taken over some of the area around the home where the incident took place and added that the homeowner’s dogs appear to have chased away the hogs before Rollins’ body was discovered.

The scene of the incident in Anahuac. Chambers County Sheriff's Office Chambers County Sheriff's Office

“This is a very rare incident. Just what little research we have found there’s less than six of these that have been reported in the nation,” he said.

Texas has seen a boom in its feral hog population in recent years, with their number now estimated to be approximately 1.5 million.

The animals became a viral sensation in August when Twitter user William McNabb defended the use of assault rifles by posing the question: “How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play?”