Updated ,first published
A coroner says further testing is required to determine how a 19-year-old Canadian backpacker whose body was found surrounded by dingoes died.
Despite an autopsy being undertaken on Wednesday, the coroner said more tests were needed to find out if Piper James died due to a dingo attack or drowning at 75 Mile Beach on Queensland’s famous K’gari island.
“These further results and establishing the cause of death may take some time. Family of the deceased have been kept up to date with the investigation,” a spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland said.
Police said James’ body had been “touched and interfered with by the dingoes”, but could not initially tell whether she was attacked while she was alive.
They said there were three potential scenarios: she drowned before dingoes came across her remains; the dingoes attacked her and killed her; or she was chased into the water by the animals and drowned.
Meanwhile, calls are mounting for the World Heritage-listed island to be closed to tourists at certain times of the year to prevent dingo attacks.
Traditional owners are calling for K’gari to be closed at high-risk times for dingo attacks – even if they coincide with the peak tourist season – just as US and Canadian national parks are closed to prevent bear attacks.
Dingoes are a protected species and roam free on K’gari, the world’s largest sand island.
Each year, almost half a million people visit the pristine beaches and blue lakes of K’gari, which is a hotspot for four-wheel-driving and camping.
In recent years, particularly since the COVID pandemic, rangers have reported increasing dingo aggression, with tourists advised to carry dingo sticks.
Hervey Bay Mayor George Seymour said dingo behaviour on the island had been changing.
“We’re seeing more attacks in different ways, like dingoes following people into the water and attacking them,” he said. “That’s something we hadn’t seen before.”
In 2023, council worker Sarah Peet was attacked by a pack of dingoes while jogging along K’gari’s Orchid Beach.
Witnesses said the dingoes continued to attack Peet, even after she ran into the ocean to escape.
“She ended up running in the surf and they started mauling her in the surf,” fisherman Damien Hansen told Nine News at the time.
Peet was saved by camper Shane Moffat, who saw her fighting for her life and ran into the water to ward them off.
That attack occurred a month after a 10-year-old boy was dragged underwater by a dingo on the island. The boy was reportedly held underwater and suffered puncture wounds to his arms and shoulder before he was rescued by his 12-year-old sister.
The dingo responsible for the attacks, which was a collared animal monitored by rangers, was later euthanased.
James had defensive wounds on her body, but police said it was not clear whether she drowned in the rough conditions or was killed by the dingoes.
She had told friends she was going for a swim about 5am. Her body was spotted by two men driving on the beach about 6.30am, near the historic S.S. Maheno shipwreck.
Dr Bradley Smith from Central Queensland University, who specialises in the relationship between dingoes and humans, said some of the busiest tourist times on K’gari correspond with periods when the wild dogs are particularly aggressive, including mating season.
“I think we have a people problem on the island, not a dingo problem … capping numbers around then would be useful, for sure,” he said.
Smith described culling as a “horrible” idea, arguing it did not reduce aggression and weakened genetic diversity among the dingo population.
He said visitors were increasingly ignoring safety advice, and he believed people had been taking bigger risks with the dogs since COVID to capture pictures and videos for social media.
“People are not treating dingoes as a predator … they’re not respecting them, maybe because they’re small and because they look like a dog – they’re quite cute,” he said.
The Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, which represents traditional owners, said it had long been pushing the Queensland government to cap visitor numbers, as well as closing the island for parts of the year.
“If you’ve got a government that’s more interested in the tourism economy … the island is going to suffer,” project officer Tessa Waia said.
Cheryl Bryant from the group Save Fraser Island Dingoes accused the government of prioritising tourism over safety, and threw her support behind capping tourist numbers.
“The best way [to reduce attacks] is to reduce the number of people, especially during peak periods. It’s not a thing the government wants to do because the island is a money-making enterprise,” she said.
“Culling is not the answer. That’s just a knee-jerk reaction.”
At least four dingo attacks were reported on the island in 2025, including one on a nine-year-old boy near Yidney Rocks Beachfront Units, and another on a woman who was bitten on the hand at the island’s Winnam camping area.
In April 2001, nine-year-old Brisbane boy Clinton Gage was fatally mauled by two dingoes while holidaying with his family.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said he would wait for James’ autopsy results before considering a review of dingo management, a potential dingo cull, or imposing stricter visitor caps on the island.
“I want to see the results of an autopsy first before we get to that stage. It’s important that be made public and that there’s a considered response,” he said.
He ruled out a complete tourist ban on the island.
“I’ve been to Fraser, K’gari, many times. It’s a really special part of the state, and we should be proud that it’s part of the state,” he said.
Queensland’s Department of Justice said it planned to release more information on James’ autopsy results on Wednesday afternoon.
Her father, Todd, said his family would always admire her “strength and determination” to go after her dreams.
“Mostly, I loved hearing about and seeing the bonds and friendships she was developing as she grew into her beautiful self.”
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