French police investigating the death of a pregnant woman mauled to death by dogs while walking in the woods have carried out DNA tests on 67 canines in an attempt to identify those that attacked her.

Key points: An autopsy showed that Ms Pilarski died of bleeding after several dog bites to the upper and lower limbs and the head

An autopsy showed that Ms Pilarski died of bleeding after several dog bites to the upper and lower limbs and the head Ms Pilarski phoned her partner before the attack to tell him she came across "threatening dogs"

Ms Pilarski phoned her partner before the attack to tell him she came across "threatening dogs" An investigation has been launched against persons unknown

Twenty-nine-year-old Elisa Pilarski was found dead on Saturday (local time) in Retz forest about 90km northeast of Paris.

A hunt with hounds was underway at the time in the forest where she was walking her own dog.

An autopsy showed that she died of bleeding after several dog bites to the upper and lower limbs and the head.

Frederic Trinh, the public prosecutor leading the investigation into her death, said on Thursday (local time) that DNA tests had been carried out on 67 dogs — 62 from the hunting club and five belonging to Ms Pilarski and her partner.

An investigation has been launched against persons unknown — a common procedure in France at the start of a probe — for manslaughter due to carelessness or negligence.

Ms Pilarski was walking her own dog when she was attacked. ( Facebook: Elisa Pilarski )

Mr Trinh said that police still had no main line of inquiry.

He confirmed that Ms Pilarski had phoned her partner, who was at work, before the attack to tell him that she had come across "threatening dogs".

In a Facebook message she also wrote that a German shepherd was on the prowl but police had yet to identify that dog, Mr Trinh said.

'It can only be the hunt'

Ms Pilarski's partner, Christophe, told BFM channel that when he arrived on the scene around 45 minutes later he came across hunting hounds first and then a rider.

An investigation into Elisa Pilarski's death has been launched against persons unknown. ( Facebook: Elisa Pilarski )

He then saw a pack of "around 30" dogs near a ravine where he found her body as well as the couple's own dog Curtis, whom he said had been bitten on the head.

Sobbing during the interview, he told BFM that what he initially mistook for a log turned out to be Ms Pilarski's bare stomach.

She was "entirely undressed" and had been "bitten all over," he said.

"It can only be the hunt," he said.

According to local newspaper Le Courrier Picard, the hounds were hunting deer.

Hunting associations have denied they could be to blame.

The Paris-based French hunting association said in a statement that "nothing shows the involvement of hunting hounds in the death of this woman".

France has more than 30,000 hunts with hounds in total and the association stated that "these dogs are trained to hunt a particular animal and obey man in all circumstances".

AFP