{"id":432922,"date":"2026-01-25T20:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432922\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T20:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:18:13","slug":"dingoes-found-circling-b-c-teen-to-be-culled-australia-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432922\/","title":{"rendered":"Dingoes found circling B.C. teen to be culled, Australia says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pack of dingoes found circling the body<\/a> of a young Canadian after her death on a beach in Australia will be culled, government officials announced Saturday.<\/p>\n

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The family of Piper James has said the 19-year-old from Campbell River, B.C., ventured out Monday for an early-morning swim on a beach on K\u2019gari, an island off Australia\u2019s east coast.<\/p>\n

Police in the state of Queensland have said her body was found not long after, surrounded and \u201cinterfered with\u201d by a pack of about 10 dingoes, a type of wild dog.<\/p>\n

In an online statement, a spokesperson from the government\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Tourism said Saturday they were aware of initial autopsy findings suggesting dingo bites were likely not James\u2019s immediate cause of death.<\/p>\n

The statement said rangers monitoring the wild dogs this week have noticed \u201caggressive\u201d behaviour.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFollowing the initial autopsy findings, this pack\u2019s involvement in the incident, and observations since, this pack has been deemed an unacceptable public safety risk,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDingoes involved in Monday\u2019s incident will be humanely euthanized.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:40
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPiper James identified as Canadian found dead on Australian beach, surrounded by dingoes\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Minister Andrew Powell said in the same statement that while euthanizing the animals was a tough decision, it\u2019s the \u201cright call.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis tragedy has deeply affected Queenslanders and touched the hearts of people around the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A brief social media post from Todd James, Piper\u2019s father, says the announcement is \u201csimply sad, heart-wrenching information.\u201d He notes a final autopsy report has yet to be issued.<\/p>\n

He has previously said a \u201csmoke ceremony\u201d for his daughter would be held in Australia, and the family hopes to attend. They are also expected to bring home her remains next week.<\/p>\n

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A GoFundMe campaign to do so had raised a little more than $20,000 as of late Saturday.<\/p>\n

James had been travelling around Australia since October with a friend, also from Campbell River, and had found a job on K\u2019gari, a world heritage site that is a popular destination for backpackers and other tourists.<\/p>\n

K\u2019gari, the world\u2019s largest sand island, is known for its population of dingoes. The Queensland government actively warns visitors to be \u201cdingo safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tPublic sector unions say nearly 10K employees got layoff notices this week\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Two beach camping areas have been closed until the end of February, and ranger patrols have increased since James\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

There has been a series of dingo attacks on K\u2019gari, also known as Fraser Island. In addition to the 2023 incident, they include the fatal mauling of a nine-year-old in 2001.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tB.C. tourist found dead on Australian beach\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s most notorious dingo attack \u2014 the death of two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain in central Australia in 1980 \u2014 inspired the 1988 film \u201cA Cry in the Dark,\u201d featuring Meryl Streep as the infant\u2019s mother, who was wrongfully convicted of murder.<\/p>\n

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Friends and family have said James was a \u201cbrave little girl\u201d with an infectious laugh who dreamt of becoming a pilot. Her mother, Angela James, has said her daughter was adventurous and loved motocross, camping and swimming.<\/p>\n

A preliminary assessment on James\u2019s body, released earlier this week, suggests there were \u201cpre-mortem\u201d bites in addition to evidence consistent with drowning.<\/p>\n

The Coroners Court of Queensland has said the coroner is awaiting pathology results to further assist in determining the cause of death.<\/p>\n

The process is expected to take several weeks.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pack of dingoes found circling the body of a young Canadian after her death on a beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2840,48,180089,43,44,176782,41,39,42,40,3275],"class_list":{"0":"post-432922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dingos","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-piper-james","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}