{"id":16414,"date":"2026-01-22T12:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16414"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:14:17","slug":"locals-raise-dingo-concerns-after-teens-death-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=16414","title":{"rendered":"Locals raise dingo concerns after teen’s death in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traditional owners will bless the area where a young woman died on K’gari amid their increasing frustration over dingo management on the world’s largest sand island.<\/p>\n

The body of Canadian tourist\u00a0Piper James was found surrounded by dingoes<\/a>\u00a0on a beach on the eastern side of the island on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

An autopsy was carried out on Wednesday to determine how the 19-year-old died.<\/p>\n

Late on Wednesday afternoon the Coroners Court said further scientific testing was required, which could take some time.<\/p>\n

\"There<\/p>\n

There have been numerous incidents involving dingoes and tourist on K’gari.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0Supplied: Bruno Saggin<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) said James’s death was a tragedy.<\/p>\n

“We wanted young Piper to leave with footprints of good memories to come back another day,” director Christine Royan said.<\/p>\n

Royan said the traditional owners would carry out ceremonial activities to bless the area where the teenager died.<\/p>\n

She urged the community to refrain from blaming the dingoes, known as wongari in traditional language.<\/p>\n

Calls for action<\/h3>\n

About 200 dingoes roam the World Heritage-listed island, according to the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS).<\/p>\n

In 2001 Clinton Gage, nine, was attacked and killed by two dingoes on the island and there have been\u00a0hundreds of high-risk or threatening incidents since<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Royan said while human interactions with the apex predators were increasing on K’gari, the state government was not taking responsibility for managing the situation.<\/p>\n

“We don’t want to have a meeting with QPWS every week, we want action,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Christine<\/p>\n

Christine Royan is calling for the government to urgently review dingo management on the island.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0ABC Wide Bay: Nikki Sorbello<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The organisation called for visitor numbers to be capped, including restrictions at particular times of year, and for more First Nations rangers to operate on the island.<\/p>\n

“Everyone should enjoy K’gari, but they need to come when it’s not the breeding season [March to May],” Royan said.<\/p>\n

“The solution is not to punish the animal\u2026 what we need to do is look at better management.”<\/p>\n

The K’gari dingo population, recognised as one of the purest in Australia, has inhabited the island for thousands of years and plays a crucial role in the ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Dingoes are protected in Queensland national parks and on K’gari the species is managed under the Fraser Island Conservation and Risk Management Strategy which is enforced by the QPWS.<\/p>\n

\"Conway<\/p>\n

Conway Burns says better education on dingo safety is essential.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0ABC Wide Bay: Nikki Sorbello<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An independent review into the plan in 2021 found it was still fit for purpose and was comprehensively delivered.<\/p>\n

But fellow BAC director Conway Burns said the wongari management plans were outdated and that tracking high-risk animals with GPS collars was not working.<\/p>\n

“We need to look at that really closely and incorporate our cultural processes and protocols,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We need to tell the story through Butchulla eyes… it’s very important to merge this into the management plan for dingoes.”<\/p>\n

Investigation continues<\/h3>\n

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli acknowledged the tragedy of James’s death while she was on the “trip of a lifetime” and said he would\u00a0wait for the cause of death to be confirmed before looking at the next steps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said he would not consider capping visitor numbers on the island.<\/p>\n

QPWS senior ranger Linda Behrendorff said management on the island was done in consultation with Butchulla people.<\/p>\n

“Our job is to mitigate the risk of wild and free-ranging animals to the visitors and the residents on K’gari,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Linda<\/p>\n

Linda Behrendorff says more management is needed to prevent interactions between humans and dingoes.\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0ABC Wide Bay: Lucy Loram<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Behrendorff said most dingoes on the island belonged to packs and frequented areas visited by humans.<\/p>\n

“We have rangers in those areas all the time to make sure people understand their ‘Be Dingo Safe’ obligations,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not an easy task to try and mitigate risk in that human-wildlife interface \u2026 [it’s hard] wherever you have free-ranging wildlife and humans in the same arena.<\/p>\n

“It needs full management.”<\/p>\n

Source: ABC & RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Traditional owners will bless the area where a young woman died on K’gari amid their increasing frustration over dingo management on the world’s largest sand island. The body of Canadian tourist\u00a0Piper James was found surrounded by dingoes\u00a0on a beach on the eastern side of the island on Monday morning. An autopsy was carried out on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16416,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16414\/revisions\/16416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}