In a heartfelt tribute, the father of a young backpacker discovered amidst a group of dingoes on Monday morning expressed that the family’s “hearts are shattered” over the loss of their “precious little baby girl.”

Piper James, a 19-year-old backpacker from Canada, was on holiday with friends at a popular tourist spot in Queensland. Her body was tragically found at Seventy Five Mile Beach shortly after 5 a.m. on Monday.

Authorities are currently investigating whether her death resulted from drowning or a dingo attack, with reports confirming she had “defensive wounds.”

On Wednesday, her father, Todd James, posted an emotional message on Facebook, describing the loss of Piper as “tragic.”

“Our hearts are shattered as we share the tragic loss of our beautiful daughter, Piper. We will always cherish her infectious laugh and her kind spirit,” the post read.

“I admired her strength and determination to pursue her dreams,” he added.

James said he supported Piper’s trip to Australia and that his daughter was “so glad” to have the backing from her father.

“Lol, she said, ‘Because I’m 18, and you can’t stop me!’,” he said, reflecting upon her journey to Australia.

“Mostly, I loved hearing about and seeing the bonds and friendships she was developing as she grew into her beautiful self,” he added.

He says Piper was part of British Columbia Wildlife Services in Canada, and that she “loved and was proud” of her work with the organization. Her father posted an image of Piper dressed in firefighter equipment and standing in burnt land.

“Piper would work hard so she could play hard, “ he said.

“So many are going to miss you, my precious little baby girl. Maybe gone, but how can we ever forget you?”.

“The pain … RIP my baby”.

Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie confirmed James, from Canada, had been living and working on the island for six weeks with a friend.

James went to a beach about 5 a.m. for a swim then was found by two men driving past, who saw about 10 dingoes surrounding an object on the shore about one hour later.

“(It) was obviously a very traumatic and horrific scene for them to uncover,” he said.

“(Her friend) is very traumatised, she’s been supported by her friends at the backpackers where they were working,”.

‘Can’t confirm’: Backpackers death status unknown

Algie said it was too early to speculate on cause of death until a post-mortem was conducted.

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

Algie said James’ body had been “touched and interfered with” by the dingoes, but they were not speculating whether that had anything to do with her cause of death.

“K’gari is a wilderness area, dingoes are wild animals, and while they 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,” he said.

“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.”

A spokesperson from the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation said Queensland police are currently leading an investigation on the K’gari death.

The department confirmed ranger patrols were increased and extra staff were deployed to engage with the community since James’ death on Monday.

A camping zone has also been temporarily closed and five news signs installed to create public awareness about dingoes.

“We remind people to always follow directions of rangers, pay attention to signage and to be dingo-safe at all times on K’gari,” the department spokesperson said.