22/01/2026
Protect Kgaris animals before tourism
This week, the devastating death of a young Canadian woman, Piper James, on K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island) made international news. First and foremost, I want to extend our sincerest condolences to her friends and family. I am deeply sorry for your tragic loss.
I’m writing today, as the president of Sydney Dingo Rescue, with a heavy heart. As I think about the far reaching implications of Piper’s death for dingoes, a keystone species already ruthlessly hunted, poisoned, trapped and culled across Australia.
At this stage, it is important to be clear about what is known — and what is not. We do not know Piper’s cause of death. What has been reported is that she went swimming in the early hours of Monday morning, that her body was later found washed up on a K’gari beach, and that a group of dingoes were present in the area at the time her body was discovered. Anything beyond this is speculation pending the results of the police investigation and autopsy (which we understand took place yesterday, 21/1).
It is also important to note that this occurred during dingo breeding season — a particularly sensitive time. Dingoes can be territorial during the mating period (February-May) and when preparing to raise their pups (born in May-July). They are attentive, protective parents, and disturbance during this period significantly increases risk for both humans and dingoes.
What has followed this tragedy, however, is what concerns me the most is what will happen now to the K’gari dingoes and indeed dingoes across Queensland in the wake of this tragic event- regardless of whether or not the dingoes were involved in Piper's tragic death. From the get go Monday morning (19/1), a media circus erupted, accompanied by public calls for a cull of the dingoes on K’gari.
Sadly, the dingoes on K’gari do not behave like “normal” wild dingoes, and they haven’t for a long time (they are extremely different to the hundreds of wild dingoes I have worked with over the past decade). Since colonisation and the arrival of European settlers (1847), and particularly over the last 40 years, the island has been transformed into a heavily trafficked tourist destination — a kind of open-air "jurassic park” style resort where people are "guaranteed" to see dingoes (what could possibly go wrong?). Decades of unchecked tourism have profoundly altered the dingoes behaviour. Today, despite having only 152 permanent residents, an estimated 500,000 people visit the tiny island each year (ABS, 2022).
While dingoes historically had a relationship with the traditional owners, the Butchulla people on K’gari, this is fundamentally different to what has occurred under modern tourism. Despite feeding dingoes having been made illegal for decades, dingoes still associate humans with food — through illegal feeding, unsecured rubbish, negligent food storage by campers, fish scraps and bait from fishing, and general tourist behaviour actively enabled by the Queensland tourism industry. The dingoes have become so humanised that they have lost the natural wariness and cautiousness that keeps wild dingoes — and people — safe. Habituation does not equal aggression, but sadly as it stands almost all human/dingo interactions are now viewed as negative by QPWS/DETSI.
The Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, representing the Traditional Owners of K’gari, has repeatedly called for visitor numbers to be restricted/capped (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-21/kgari-traditional-owners-dingo-management-issues/106252220).These calls are being ignored by the Queensland Premier.
Almost every year, the number of dingoes killed on K’gari following so-called “negative interactions” increases. Today, a negative interaction does not require a bite or injury. Curious juveniles approaching campsites, or dingoes deemed to be “stalking” humans, are routinely destroyed. This has become a normalised “management” practice (Lennox, 2021).
The dingoes of K’gari represent a unique ecotype not found on the mainland. As apex predators, they are also a keystone species, playing a critical role in maintaining the health of the island’s ecosystems. Dingoes regulate prey species, suppress overabundant mesopredators, and influence the behaviour and movement of other animals, helping to maintain trophic balance (Letnic, Ritchie, and Dickman, 2011). Removing dingoes, or destabilising their family structures through lethal control, does not just harm dingoes; it degrades entire ecosystems (Letnic and Koch, 2010). Despite this, the K’gari dingoes are among the only dingoes in Queensland afforded any legal protection — protections that remain fragile and easily overridden.
Incidents like this do not only affect K’gari. They ripple outward. Each time one dingo is found guilty, the court of public opinion finds EVERY dingo “guilty” and a type of character assassination takes place for these iconic animals.
Across Australia, serious dingo bites to humans are extremely rare. By contrast, domestic dogs cause thousands of serious bite injuries requiring hospitalisation every year. We have only been able to find records of two fatal attacks by wild dingoes (Brumm, 2002) in the last 100 years - Azeria Chamberlaine, 1980 and Clinton Gage, 2001. Sadly Clinton Gage’s death led to at least 32 (edited) dingoes being killed on K’gari (locals believe the numbers may have been far greater).
None of this diminishes the tragedy of a young person losing her life. But killing dingoes cannot restore Piper’s life. Culling is a form of retributive justice that creates more suffering without addressing the underlying causes. Importantly, research has shown that lethal control of dingoes on K’gari has not reduced negative interactions with humans and may actually worsen them by disrupting social structures and increasing risky behaviour (See Lennox, “Dingo Bold” 2021 and associated academic articles).
If we are serious about reducing harm — to people and to dingoes — we must address the real cause: tourism. Visitor numbers on K’gari must be reduced, tourists must be better supervised with harsher penalties for people caught feeding the dingoes, and dingo safety education (talks or videos) must be made mandatory for all tourists visiting the island. Ideally non-resident tourism should be temporarily halted to allow the island’s fragile ecosystems and dingo families time to recover. Dingoes need the opportunity, over generations, to relearn fear of humans and become self-sufficient again.
This matters beyond dingoes. Every year on K’gari, hundreds of seabirds are injured by fishing hooks. Animals are hit by vehicles. Others are injured or killed by boats and jet skis. There are serious ongoing issues of water contamination in the lakes due to waste water and sewage from campers. The harm is systemic and ongoing.
What you can do to help:
- Please stick to the facts and resist speculation.
- Advocate for dingoes while remaining respectful — a young person has lost her life and family has lost a child.
- Make it clear that you do not support the culling of the K’gari dingoes.
- Contact the Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) and voice your support for the Butchulla people’s calls to cap and reduce visitor numbers, particularly during breeding season. https://www.detsi.qld.gov.au/contactus/feedback-forms/feedback-form-enquiry
- Be respectful of wild dingoes, educate yourself before you enter into their habitats and never encourage feeding wildlife
- Make the responsible decision not to support the monetisation of K’gari’s dingoes by the Queensland Government and tourism industry.
We recognise that this may be uncomfortable or controversial. But dingo welfare has to come first. Right now, tourism on K’gari is actively harming dingoes. There are other places to learn about and appreciate dingoes without contributing to a system that places them at risk.
This situation was created by people.
The solution must also be human-led — but it cannot be paid for with dingo lives.
References:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-21/kgari-traditional-owners-dingo-management-issues/106252220
Appleby, Rob. "6 Dingo-Human Conflict: Attacks on Humans." The Dingo Debate (2015): 131-159.
Brumm, Adam. "Before Azaria: A historical perspective on dingo attacks." Animals 12, no. 12 (2022): 1592.
Lennox, Rowena. Dingo Bold: the life and death of K'gari dingoes. Sydney University Press, 2021.
Letnic, Mike, Euan G. Ritchie, and Christopher R. Dickman. "Top predators as biodiversity regulators: the dingo Canis lupus dingo as a case study." Biological Reviews 87, no. 2 (2012): 390-413.
Letnic, Mike, and Freya Koch. "Are dingoes a trophic regulator in arid Australia? A comparison of mammal communities on either side of the dingo fence." Austral Ecology 35, no. 2 (2010): 167-175.
Probyn-Rapsey, Fiona. "Dingoes and dog-whistling: A cultural politics of race and species in Australia." Animal Studies Journal 4, no. 2 (2015).
Photo of "Bold", (known as PuGY 14M) from author and scholar Rowena Lennox taken before Bold was killed for negative interactions with humans on K'gari in 2015.
