Canadian backpacker Piper James died ‘as a result of drowning’ following dingo attack at K’gari, coroner says

Canadian backpacker Piper James died “as a result of drowning” following a Dingo attack at K’gari, the Queensland coroners court says.The court on Friday said Piper’s cause of death had been determined by a forensic pathologist and accepted by the investigating coroner.“Piper died as a result of drowning in the setting of multiple injuries, due to, or as a consequence of a Dingo attack,” a spokesperson for the court said.“The investigation into Piper’s death is ongoing, and no further information can be provided at this time.”The 19-year-old’s trip to Australia ended in tragedy when she was found dead on a beach in January on the world heritage-listed island formerly known as Fraser Island off the Queensland coast.The coroners court said in January that the autopsy had found “physical evidence consistent with drowning and injuries consistent with Dingo bites”.“Pre-mortem Dingo bite marks are not likely to have caused immediate death. There are extensive post-mortem Dingo bite marks. There is no evidence that any other person was involved.”It had been speculated that James could have entered the water to escape dingoes before drowning.Last month, James’ parents, Todd and Angela, visited K’gari as part of an emotional pilgrimage to return their daughter’s remains home to Canada.Posting to Facebook, her father said he wanted to “walk where she last walked, and try to feel the spirit of my baby girl in some way”.The couple participated in a traditional smoking ceremony conducted by the island’s Butchulla traditional owners on the beach near the SS Maheno wreck where Piper was found in the early hours of 19 January after she went for a morning solo swim.The last known sighting of Piper alive was at about 5am on Monday, when she told friends and colleagues at the backpackers that she was headed to the beach.Map showing K’gari.K’gari, about 380 kilometres north of the Queensland capital, Brisbane, is home to about 150 human inhabitants and a population of around 200 dingoes genetically distinct from those on mainland Australia.Dingoes are sacred to the Indigenous Butchulla people, who call them wongari, and are specifically mentioned in K’gari’s world heritage listing. K’gari was previously known as Fraser Island.Violent Dingo and human interactions have been increasing in recent years. In 2023, a pack of three dingoes rushed and bit a woman who was jogging along a beach. She ran into the ocean to escape.A Dingo was shot and killed with a spear gun in 2024, and several others were put down after attacking people.The Butchulla and conservationists have long blamed overtourism for Dingo attacks on the island.Following James’ death, the Queensland government announced the entire pack of 10 dingoes linked to the tragedy would be euthanised – leading Dingo experts to warn of an “extinction vortex” for Australia’s only native canid on the island where they have likely roamed for thousands of years.The environment minister, Andrew Powell, said it was “a tough decision” but “the right call in the public interest”.“This tragedy has deeply affected Queenslanders and touched the hearts of people around the world,” he said in a statement on 25 January.Dingoes on K’gari. Photograph: Sam Brisby/Getty Images/iStockphotoEight of the dingoes had since been culled.K’gari’s world heritage advisory committee warned last February that the island’s ecology risks being “destroyed” by “overtourism”. But Powell has consistently rejected proposals that would cap visitation.James’s mother, Angela, told the national broadcaster that both parents believed killing the dingoes “is the last thing Piper would want”.“She loved all animals, no matter what,” she said. “She wouldn’t want anything done to [the dingoes]; they were there first. She knew that.”Central Queensland University senior lecturer Bradley Smith told Guardian Australia the decision to cull the dingoes would have a “devastating” effect on the population’s ecology, which he said was on track for extinction in 50 to 100 years.“Unless you fix the way that humans behave on the island towards dingos, then it will never fix it,” he said.“So this [Dingo attacks] will happen again”.Additional reporting by Andrew Messenger