The grieving parents of a backpacker believed to have drowned on a world heritage-listed sand island off the coast of Queensland are visiting K’gari as part of their journey to return the remains of Piper James to Canada.
Todd and Angela James landed in Brisbane from Vancouver on Tuesday morning – the first leg of their emotional journey to K’gari (formerly known as Fraser Island).
The couple declined to speak to the press waiting at the airport, although Todd expressed his grief on social media.
“Now it’s time to go to Australia to be with Piper, walk where she walks, and try to feel my little girl’s spirit in some way – we’re going back with Piper back home to Canada,” she posted on Facebook.
The couple will visit K’gari for a traditional smoking ceremony held by the Butchulla traditional owners of the island later this week on the beach near the SS Maheno wreck where Piper was found in the early hours of January 19 after she went for an early morning solo swim.
“This ceremony is an important cultural protocol for us and a way to bring peace to the land, recognize its spirit and offer the benefit of all,” Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation director Christine Royan said.
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A coroner’s preliminary assessment, released four days after James’ death, found “physical evidence consistent with drowning” as well as “injuries consistent with a dingo bite”, saying they were unlikely to be fatal bites.
As of Tuesday afternoon the coroner was “still awaiting pathology results to further assist in determining Piper James’ cause of death” – a process expected to take several weeks.
However, nine days ago, the Queensland environment minister, Andrew Powell, said that a whole pack of 10 animals would be euthanized – leading dingo experts warned of an “extinction vortex” for Australia’s only native canid on the island where they have likely roamed for thousands of years.
With less than 200 isolated individuals, the K’gari dingo population has low genetic diversity and high levels of inbreeding, Dr Kylie Cairns, an expert in dingo genetics at the University of New South Wales, said.
James’ mother Angela, however, told the national broadcaster that both parents believe killing dingoes “is the last thing Piper wants”.
But a department spokesman said rangers considered the canids an “unacceptable risk to public safety” after they spent a week closely monitoring the pack and observed aggressive behavior.
The tragedy is the latest in a worsening series of aggressive encounters between dingoes and tourists in K’gari and the first death since nine-year-old Clinton Gage was killed by two dingoes in 2001, after which 32 dingoes were killed.
A Queensland environment department spokeswoman said on Tuesday afternoon that eight dingoes had been “humanely killed”.
“The operation is ongoing, with one dingo outstanding,” the spokesman said.
Traditional owners say they were not consulted or involved in the decision to kill the dingoes, which they call wongari and consider sacred.
AAP contributed to this report