By Nikki Sorbello and James C Taylor, ABC
Canadian backpacker Piper James who died on K’gari in January.
Photo: ABC / Supplied
Drowning by dingoes has been ruled as the official cause of death of Canadian teenager Piper James.
The 19-year-old was found on a K’gari (Fraser Island) beach at about 6:30am on January 19, near a campsite where she lived and worked for about a week before her death.
Her body was surrounded by a pack of approximately 10 dingoes, eight of which have since been euthanised.
A spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland said James died as a result of drowning in the setting of multiple injuries, due to, or as a consequence of a dingo attack.
“The investigation into Piper’s death is ongoing, and no further information can be provided at this time,” the spokesperson said.
Candian tourist Piper James, pictured with her father Todd, was found dead on a K’gari beach.
Photo: Social media
In response to the finding her mother, Angela James, told the ABC she could not stop thinking about how scared her daughter must have been.
“It breaks my heart we couldn’t be there to save her,” Angela James said.
“It hurts my heart to think she was screaming for me,” her father Todd James said.
“It’s hard to imagine what our baby went through.”
Angela and Todd James in the surf during smoking ceremony for Piper James on K’gari.
Photo: ABC / James Taylor
Last month, her parents and friends visited the beach where she died.
They have since called for a coronial inquest into policies governing the sharing of information by rangers about the risk of dingo attack.
The ruling comes after a six-week-long investigation into the circumstances surrounding James’s death.
A memorial to Piper James on K’gari.
Photo: ABC / Olivia Nunes-Malek
Angela James previously told the ABC that her daughter had regularly gone for an early morning swim during the week she had been living on the World Heritage-listed island.
“She just loved to start her day in the ocean watching the sun come up, because she just felt so free there,” she said.
“She said it was the most amazing thing.”
Angela and Todd James are calling on the state government to increase warnings about the danger of dingoes during peak periods on K’gari.
Photo: ABC / Ollie Wykeham
The last reported fatal dingo attack on the island occurred in 2001, when nine-year-old boy Clinton Gage was killed by a dingo after tripping and falling near a campsite.
Chasing prey into the ocean is a common hunting strategy used by dingoes on K’gari.
In 2023 a woman was chased into the surf by four dingoes while jogging along the beach on K’gari.
The woman sustained multiple bites to her limbs and torso in the attack.
– ABC