With her body marred by bite wounds and scratches, the grim discovery sent shockwaves through the campsite.
Campers were abruptly awakened around 6:30 a.m. as authorities descended on the scene, their flashing lights piercing the early morning darkness.
“A ranger knocked on our swag, checking if the women we were camping with were still present because someone had evidently gone missing,” recounted witness Bryce Neighbour.
He added, “Seeing someone being placed in a body bag was overwhelming.”
In response to the incident, nearby camping areas have been closed off, and rangers are urging tourists to exercise caution.
“Currently, it’s a police investigation, and our approach to minimizing any risks involves ramping up patrols in the vicinity,” explained ranger Linda Behrendorff.
The potential that the island’s iconic predators could be responsible has stunned locals and tourists alike.
“We’ve fortunately come out of a peak period, a holiday period over the Christmas holidays where there were very limited high-risk behaviour from dingoes to visitors” Behrendorff said.
If dingoes are to blame, it would be the first death from an attack in 25 years.Â
Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour described James’ death as a “massive tragedy”.
“I think that if this is found to be a fatal dingo attack, there will have to be a review of the dingo management strategy,” Seymour said.
