‘Escalation of dingo activity’, K’gari local mayor says as police investigate death of backpacker

The local mayor of the island of K’gari said there had been an “increase in dingo activity” on the island over the past five years, as police investigated whether Monday morning’s tragic death was a drowning or a dingo attack.

A 19-year-old Canadian backpacker was found dead on K’gari beach, surrounded by a pack of dingoes with possible ‘defensive wounds’.

The woman went to the beach for a swim around 5am, then was found by two men passing by and about an hour later saw about 10 dingoes surrounding an object on the shore.

It is understood that the woman had been living and working on the island with a friend for six weeks.

Local Fraser Coast mayor George Seymour told the Today program it was “a very unusual situation” to find a body on the beach and not know whether the woman had drowned or been attacked by a pack of dingoes.

He says although the last dingo attack was 25 years ago, there has been an “increase in dingo activity” in the last five years.

“A big part of what rangers do is try to separate dingoes from people, but we continue to have this with dingoes and given how many bites and attacks have occurred over the years, in some ways it’s inevitable that there will be a fatality,” he said.

At the world heritage site formerly known as Fraser Island, Mr Seymour says tourists should stay away, remain vigilant at all times, and parents with young children should keep them at arm’s length.

But the local mayor says the most dangerous place to be in K’gari is in a car or by the water.

“There have been rollovers, shark attacks, drownings. So while dingoes are a threat, they’re certainly not the most dangerous thing on Fraser Island,” he said.

“This is a shocking tragedy that has truly impacted our community. We expect the post-mortem examination to take place tomorrow, Wednesday, and we hope that will provide some answers,” Mr Seymour said.

‘Cannot be confirmed’: Backpackers’ death status unknown

Wide Bay District Superintendent Paul Algie said it was too early to speculate on the cause of death until an autopsy was performed.

“We cannot confirm that this young lady drowned or died as a result of an attack by dingoes,” he said.

Mr Algie said dingoes had “touched and interfered” with the woman’s body but did not speculate whether this had anything to do with the cause of her death.

“K’gari is a wilderness area, dingoes are wild animals, and although they are culturally and important to the local First Nations people and people living on the island, they are still wild animals and should be treated as such,” he said.

“I would ask anyone visiting K’gari, which is a beautiful place, to not go near the dingoes, not to feed the dingoes, just let them live their lives and act accordingly around them.”

Witnesses said they saw at least 12 dingoes around the woman’s body at the waterline.

According to the Courier-Mail, there were possible ‘defensive wounds’ on his body.

The police launched an investigation into the woman’s death.

NewsWire has contacted the Ministry of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation for comment.