Body of Canadian woman, 19, found surrounded by dingoes on Australian island
Police in Queensland, Australia, are investigating the death of a 19-year-old woman after her body was found on the beach surrounded by wild dogs. K’GariIt was formerly known as Fraser Island.
The island, which is on the UNESCO world heritage list, is located on the east coast of Australia and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
The woman is a Canadian citizen and had spent the last six weeks working at a backpacker hostel on the island, Queensland police said at a news conference. They said he was traveling there with a friend from his home country.
Police said around 5 a.m. local time on Monday (2 p.m. ET on Sunday) the woman told people she was going for an early morning swim.
A file photo of Australian dingoes foraging at K’Gari – Sam Brisby/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Just over an hour later, two men passing by saw a pack of about 10 dingoes surrounding his body on the beach near the Maheno shipwreck.
Police said it was too early to know whether the woman’s death was caused by wild dogs, which are protected as a native species in Queensland national parks.
“I can confirm that the woman’s body was touched and interfered with by dingoes,” Queensland Police Superintendent Paul Algie said, “but we are not yet speculating on whether this had anything to do with the cause of her death.”
Algie added that dingoes are culturally important to the island’s natives and indigenous people, but “they are wild animals and should be treated as such.”
“I would ask anyone visiting K’Gari, which is a beautiful place, not to go near the dingoes, not to feed the dingoes, but to let them live their own lives and act accordingly around them.”
Algie said the incident had shaken the island’s close-knit local community. “The police in K’Gari are local to K’Gari. They’ve been talking to members of the local community all day long and as you can imagine, everyone is absolutely horrified and shocked by what’s happened.”
The woman’s body was sent to the mainland and was ready for autopsy on Wednesday.
Queensland police said they notified the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to contact the victim’s family. CNN has reached out to the RCMP for comment.
Hilary Whiteman contributed to this report.
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