EL RANCHITO – Battered and beaten, a dog in El Ranchito, is still hurting from what his owner said was a vicious attack by wild hogs.

Samantha Rodriguez told Channel 5 News it's not the first time she finds her dog in this condition.

The first attack happened in May 2017.

"I saw them, like around five of them," Rodriguez says. "They were just all around my dog and my husband had to shoo them away because we didn't want to get near them. What if they bite us or do something to us?" she says.

Rodriguez believes the hogs are coming from the national wildlife refuge just feet from her home. 

She said the fence surrounding the refuge is falling apart and making it easy for the hogs to invade her home.

She wants it fixed. 

"(I want) a more secure fence, very sturdy to keep away the animals," says Rodriguez. "I mean, I don't want this to happen again to my dog and who knows, my children or myself. I'm scared to be sleeping at night. Now I have to keep an eye out on my dog, when he's supposed to be keeping an eye on me."

CHANNEL 5 NEWS took her concerns to Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge manager Bryan Winton.

He said the hogs are likely looking for water. If they know they it's there, they'll go after it.

He says if they are confronted in the process they can attack. 

"Some of the feral wild pigs get up to 200, 300 pounds," says Winton. "They're big and when they are that big, they can be aggressive. If they are cornered or confronted by surprise they would attack, but it's not the normal."

Winton adds, right now there are more fences in need of repair than there is funding to fix them. 

"Over time, because of the vegetation, the fences will get torn down and dilapidated," he says, "and we put all those properties in a database where we get priority funding." 

Winton says feral hogs are not considered wildlife and are not protected by the state. 

If they are causing a nuisance or posing a threat like they are to Rodriguez and her family, they can be trapped or hunted. A hunting license is still required. 

There were 164 wild hogs hunted in 2016 and 54 in 2017.