'Horrible situation': Woman mauled, killed by neighbor's pigs in Pataskala, Ohio

A Pataskala, Ohio woman was mauled and killed by her neighbor's pigs on Christmas Day, according to the city's police chief.

Rebecca Westergaard, 75, died after being attacked by two pigs that were roaming near her Mink Street home, Pataskala Police Chief Bruce Brooks told The Dispatch on Monday.

Westergaard's niece called Pataskala police at 2:47 p.m. for a welfare check after no one could reach Westergaard. She was supposed to leave her home in the 4000 block of Mink Street, where she lived alone, at 10:30 a.m. to go to her niece's home in Norton, Ohio, just outside of Akron, according to the police's incident report.

Westergaard was found on her property near the house, Brooks said.

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Woman died from blood loss after being mauled by pigs

The woman died from a loss of blood, according to the Licking County Coroner's Office.

Deputy Coroner and Chief Forensic Pathologist Dr. C. Jeff Lee told The Dispatch that Westergaard died from blood loss because of extensive superficial wounds on her legs.

Westergaard underwent heart surgery earlier in the year and was on blood thinners, according to the police report. Her blood loss was partly because of the blood thinners, Lee said.

"She just continued to bleed. She was unable to form clots to … stop the bleeding because she's on the blood thinners," he said.

'Horrible, horrible situation'

Brooks called the case a "horrible, horrible situation," but could not share much information as the case is still under investigation, adding that the department will share more once Westergaard's full autopsy results are completed in four to six weeks.

Brooks told The Dispatch on Monday the pigs had partially eaten Westergaard. But Licking County’s Deputy Coroner Dr. C. Jeff Lee said on Wednesday that he would not describe it that way, saying the pigs mauled Westergaard.

Uncertainty over whether owner of pigs will face charges

The two pigs were owned by a neighbor. Brooks said he was unsure what will happen to the pigs or whether their owner will be charged criminally. The department, he said, is in touch with the Licking County Prosecutors' Office over the case.

As of now, the pigs' owner has not been charged with a crime, Brooks said, and he did not release the owner's identity.

Mary Hite, a city council member and owner of Mink Street Market — a small market that sells farm-raised meat located about a quarter mile from Westergaard's home at 3740 Mink St. — told The Dispatch Monday that the pigs involved in the incident were not hogs from her farm.

Brooks said while Ohio law has a clear process for when dogs attack and kill someone, there aren't any laws about livestock that officers or prosecutors have found.

"If it was a pit bull or a Rottweiler, or name any of the other 15 dogs that are deemed semi aggressive, then we would know the answer right away," he said. "But being farm animals, it's just not something we've ever dealt with here."