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Pregnant woman killed by dogs in France during hunt in forest

A pregnant woman has been killed by dogs in a forest in northern France where a hunt with hounds was taking place, investigators have said. The body of Elisa Pilarski, 29, who was walking her own dogs, was discovered near the town of Villers-Cotterêts. She died after "several dog bites to the upper and lower limbs and the head," prosecutor Frédéric Trinh said.

Police said they were carrying out tests on 93 dogs and that they had opened a manslaughter investigation. The tests, comparing fresh DNA samples with those taken from Ms Pilarski, will try to establish which animals were responsible for the attack and who they belonged to. Five dogs belonging to Ms Pilarski, who was reportedly six months pregnant at the time of her death, were among those being tested.

[...] The pack of hounds was out hunting deer in the forest, the local newspaper Le Courrier Picard reported on Tuesday.

A person associated with the hunt, Angela Van Den Berghe, confirmed that an event had taken place on Saturday but told the L'Union news site (in French) that "to our knowledge, the tragic accident that occurred has no relation neither with our dogs, nor with the hunt with hounds".

The actor Brigitte Bardot, who is president of an animal welfare foundation, called on French authorities to immediately suspend "all hunt authorisation for this season". But the French hunting association insisted there was no evidence of "the involvement of hunting hounds in the death of this woman".

Also at CNN and France24.