A 19-year-old woman was found dead on a popular tourist beach surrounded by wild dogs. The incident happened in Australia. The woman was from Canada and was visiting the country.
Beachgoers found the woman "unresponsive on Maheno Wreck on the Queensland island of K'gari. The Queensland Police said in a news release that the woman died shortly afterward. According to police, the woman had gone for a morning swim prior to the incident. Two men driving near the beach found her surrounded by 10 wild dogs or dingoes.
"Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was, in fact, a female person at the scene," said Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie, per the outlet. "It was obviously a very dramatic and horrific scene for them to uncover."
Algie confirmed the woman had markings all over her body. These were "consistent with having been touched and interfered with by the dingoes." However, Algie stopped short of blaming the wild dogs for her death. At this time, they're unsure of what caused the woman to pass away. They do not know if she drowned or was attacked by the wild dogs.
Wild Dogs
"We simply can't confirm whether this young lady drowned or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes," he said.
The Canadian woman had been living with a friend in the area for over a month. She had gotten a job working at a local hostel. Police will perform an examination to determine the cause of death.
"We'll obviously throw every resource we can at it to get some resolution for her family," said Algie.
"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," said Algie, 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.
