A pregnant woman has been mauled to death by dogs while walking in woodland in France during a hunt.

The 29-year-old victim, named locally as Elisa Pilarski, was taking her own dog for a walk in the Forest of Retz in the Hauts-de-France region when she was killed.

She died of bleeding from “several dog bites in the upper and lower limbs and in the head”, said Frederic Trinh, prosecutor for the nearby town of Soissons, following an autopsy.

Ms Pilarski, who was six months pregnant, was found by her partner on a forest trail near Saint-Pierre Aigle on Saturday. He had left work to find her after she called him to say there were “threatening dogs” in the area, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

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Samples have been taken from 93 dogs, including hounds taking part in the hunt and Ms Pilarski’s own pets.

According to local newspaper ‘L’Union’, the pack of hounds had been taking part in a weekly hunt for deer.

A spokeswoman for the hunt, Angela van den Berghe, told the publication: “To our knowledge, the tragic accident that occurred has no relation neither with our dogs, nor with the hunt with hounds.”

But Ms Pilarski’s partner told French news channel BFMTV that he saw “about 30” hunting dogs and a rider close to where he found her mutilated body.

“She was undressed entirely,” he said. “She was devoured everywhere.”

The actor Brigitte Bardot, who is president of an animal welfare foundation, said she had written to France’s minister for ecological transition urging her to immediately suspend “all hunt authorisation for this season”.

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