A 19-year-old woman was found dead a beach on January 19, surrounded by a pack of 10 dogs, police have confirmed. The teenager had been on a backpacking trip when she was killed in harrowing scenes
Two passersby were faced with a horrific scene when they came across the body of a young woman surrounded by wild dogs on a beach. The 19-year-old was found ‘unresponsive’ and later declared dead at the scene.
It is believed that the woman went for a swim at around 5am, the police said. Some 90 minutes later, shortly before 6.30am, two men driving nearby saw around 10 dingoes surrounding an ‘object’, 9News Australia reports.
“Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was, in fact, a female person at the scene,” said Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie. “It was obviously a very dramatic and horrific scene for them to uncover.”
The incident took place on a beach north of Maheno Wreck on the Queensland island of K’gari, Australia. Algie further confirmed that the woman had markings on her body “consistent with having been touched and interfered with by the dingoes”.
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The exact cause of death has not been determined, however. “We simply can’t confirm whether this young lady drowned or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes,” he added. A post-mortem to determine the cause of death has been scheduled in mainland Queensland.
The woman, who was from Canada, has not yet been identified. According to news.com.au , she had been living on the island with a friend for six weeks and worked at a backpackers’ hostel.
K’gari, also known by its former name Fraser Island, is a World Heritage-listed sand island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. Mr Algie said police were working with local rangers, community members, and the environment and science departments to understand what exactly happened in that short period when the woman was out on the beach.
“K’gari is a wilderness area … and while [dingoes] are very culturally and significant to the local First Nations people and to the people that live on the island, they are still wild animals and need to be treated as such,” said Algie, per 9 News Australia.
“I implore all people that visit K’gari, which is a beautiful place, that you do not go near dingoes, that you do not feed dingoes and that you just leave them to live their life and you need to move around them accordingly,” he added.
Although the dogs are generally not aggressive, there are records of attacks on people and their pets. Some dingoes that are considered aggressive are tagged and monitored by rangers.
The Queensland government routinely urges tourists not to feed dingoes, to walk in groups and to carry a stick to avoid negative dingo interactions.
