Government officials in Australia say a pack of dingoes found circling the body of a Canadian woman after her death on a beach on K’gari will be culled.
A spokesperson from Queensland’s ministry of Environment and Tourism says in an online statement that rangers have monitored the pack since the death of 19-year-old Piper James on Monday.
Citing aggressive behaviour, the spokesperson says the wild dogs are an “unacceptable public safety risk” and are to be euthanized “humanely.”
Minister Andrew Powell says in the same statement that while euthanizing the animals was a tough decision, it’s the “right call.”
Police in Queensland state have said James, from Campbell River, B.C., ventured out for an early-morning swim on a beach on K’gari, off Australia’s east coast, where her body was found surrounded by a pack of dingoes.
Early autopsy results suggest “pre-mortem” dingo bites on her body were likely not her immediate cause of death and that there was evidence consistent with drowning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2026.
Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press
