What was supposed to be another thrilling adventure in the life of teenage backpacker Piper James turned into a tragedy after she was attacked by a pack of dingoes in Australia.
The 19-year-old had been working on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island), the largest sand island in the world, where about 200 wild dogs live and are protected as a native species by law.
Image credits: piper.james4
Trigger warning: this article contains details of animal attacks that some readers may find distressing
On January 19, Piper told her friends that she was going for an early morning swim at the SS Maheno Shipwreck, one of the most famous landmarks on K’gari.
She was found by a passing motorist the same day, her body surrounded by a pack of dingoes.
“It breaks my heart we couldn’t be there to save her,” her mother, Angela James, told the ABC.
“It hurts my heart to think she was screaming for me. It’s hard to imagine what our baby went through,” added her father, Todd.
Image credits: Todd James
The couple travelled to Australia to retrieve their only child’s body and return home to Canada.
Last Saturday (February 28), Piper’s loved ones paid tribute to the teenager at a funeral and private celebration of her life in her hometown, Campbell River, about 200 km northwest of Vancouver.
According to the Coroners Court of Queensland, a preliminary autopsy found “pre-mortem” dingo bites on Piper’s body, but she most likely lost her life after drowning as a result of the bites.
Image credits: 10NewsAU
The teen perished “as a result of drowning in the setting of multiple injuries, due to, or as a consequence of a dingo attack,” a spokesperson said on Friday (March 6).
The coroner added that the investigation into the tragedy is ongoing.
Angela and Todd called for authorities to review the policies governing the sharing of information by rangers about the risk of dingo attacks.
Image credits: Puch Corinne
Piper and others at the campsite where she had been staying were unaware of the heightened dingo alert that was in place at the time, her parents said.
Moreover, the couple wants a review of dingo management on the island after eight of the ten dingoes that attacked Piper were euthanized—the biggest cull since 2001, when a 9-year-old boy was mauled on K’gari.
“I’m hoping that with this inquest, it’ll show where some things possibly could be changed … so there doesn’t have to be another incident like Piper passing away,” Todd James told the ABC.
Image credits: 10NewsAU
During her eulogy at her funeral, Angela highlighted her daughter’s free spirit, saying, “You were only 19, yet you lived with more courage and fire than most people do in a lifetime.
“You ran toward danger, chased the thrill of life on your bike, trusted your hand and heart on rock faces.”
Todd added, “I shared my love for motorcycles with you – never did I dream in a million years that you would be taking us on the ride of our lives.
“I loved you for the way you loved us – you were an amazing daughter. You were fun to be around.”
Image credits: Todd James
Taylor Stricker, the teen’s best friend who had been traveling with her across Australia, said they were “partners in crime, Yin and Yang, a perfect match.”
“She pushed me in ways I never thought I could be capable of. We balanced each other in a way that just worked. I’m so lucky I got to have her in my life. Even though she was taken too soon, she changed me in ways no one else had.”
“It’s hard to imagine what our baby went through,” said her father, Todd
Image credits: Todd James
Angela James previously told the ABC that her daughter, who had been working at a backpacker’s hostel, had regularly gone for an early morning swim during the week she had been living on K’gari.
“She just loved to start her day in the ocean watching the sun come up, because she just felt so free there,” she shared.
K’gari, a World Heritage-listed island in Queensland, is visited by around 400,000 tourists each year.
Image credits: Rhain
According to University of Queensland researcher Nick Baker, the dingoes on the island appeared to have developed a tolerance for each other, which was uncharacteristic of their breed.
Baker said dingoes traditionally live and hunt in small territorial packs, protecting their food and territory against other packs.
“But here the whole island is like one big pack, with the smaller groups working together,” the expert told AAP.
Baker believes the superpack mentality can be explained by the island’s small territory and the abundance of food. With a plentiful supply of food from the beach and forest areas, there is no need for the dingoes to defend their territory against each other.
Image credits: djbassaus
After the 2001 fatal attack on the young boy, four rangers were allocated to dingo management roles, and the number of ranger patrols was increased.
In 2023, a woman was chased by four dingoes while jogging along the beach on K’gari. She survived, but sustained multiple bites to her limbs and torso.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie sent his condolences to Piper’s family and stressed the importance of visitor education about the dangers of dingoes.
He also stated that the government does not support calls to cap tourist numbers on the island.
”Fraser Island is the most amazing destination in the world, and absolutely, we’ll keep encouraging people to go there. We’re certainly not putting caps on tourists to go to Fraser Island.”
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