19-Year-Old Canadian Woman Found Dead on Popular Tourist Beach Surrounded by 10 Wild Dogs: ‘Horrific Scene’

Police in Queensland are investigating the death of a 19-year-old Canadian woman after she was found unresponsive on a beach on K’gari (Fraser Island) in Australia.

Queensland Police said officers were called at about 6:35 a.m. local time on Monday, Jan. 19, after reports of a woman found “unresponsive” at a beach north of the Maheno Wreck. She was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Investigators believe the woman went for a swim at around 5 a.m., police said. Not long before 6:30 a.m., two men driving near Orchid Beach reportedly saw about 10 dingoes — Australia’s native wild dogs — gathered around what they initially described as an “object,” according to 9News Australia.

“Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was, in fact, a female person at the scene,” Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie said, per the outlet. “It was obviously a very dramatic and horrific scene for them to uncover.”

Algie said the woman had markings “consistent with having been touched and interfered with by the dingoes,” though he could not confirm what caused her death, per 9News Australia.

“We simply can’t confirm whether this young lady drowned or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes,” he said.

According to News.com.au, the woman had been living on the island with a friend for about six weeks and was working at a backpackers’ hostel. She has not been publicly identified.

A post-mortem examination has been scheduled in mainland Queensland to determine the cause of death, per 9News Australia. “We’ll obviously throw every resource we can at it to get some resolution for her family,” Algie said.

Queensland Police said they are being assisted by the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI), according to News.com.au.

“K’gari is a wilderness area … and while [dingoes] are very culturally and significant to the local First Nations people and to the people that live on the island, they are still wild animals and need to be treated as such,” Algie said, per 9 News Australia.

“I implore all people that visit K’gari, which is a beautiful place, that you do not go near dingoes, that you do not feed dingoes and that you just leave them to live their life and you need to move around them accordingly,” he added.