An attack on a woman by a pack of dingoes has authorities weighing how to balance visitor safety with preserving the environment and natural wilderness on Queensland’s K’gari.
Concerns about the recent spate of attacks came as the state's environment minister confirmed one of the dingoes that attacked the 24-year-old woman had been involved in a previous incident.
The woman was taken to hospital with numerous bites after being attacked by at least three dingoes while jogging on the beach on Monday.
The animals chased her into the water, before two men in a four-wheel-drive rushed to her aid.
The attack is the latest of several recent and concerning encounters between humans and the native animals, known locally as wongari.
Fraser Coast Regional Council Mayor George Seymour believes there have been more attacks in the past two years than in the previous decade at the tourist spot formerly known as Fraser Island.
"Something different is happening over the past two years,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday, pointing to both the frequency of interactions and the behaviour of the animals.
"(This) is very, very concerning because it’s extremely terrifying to be attacked by wildlife."
While it's too early to consider limiting visitor numbers, Mr Seymour wants to see more research into what is behind the behaviour of the dingos.
"The state government has done everything it can - people get bored of (the) messaging, you hear it so much - about being dingo safe," Mr Seymour said.
"There's kilometres and kilometres of fencing and the attacks aren't happening behind the fencing."
The Queensland government committed to a series of "risk intervention actions" following a review of K’gari’s dingo management strategy announced in 2019.
The review was announced following three serious dingo interactions early that year.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli questioned whether the recommendations had been followed.
"So what's happened since then, have the recommendations from that report been implemented? Are there enough rangers on the ground to do the job?" he asked on Tuesday.
"Or is it another report that was commissioned and then put on a shelf after relieving the pressure of the issues of the day?"
Environment Minister Leanne Linard said all 39 recommendations had been accepted and were in various stages of implementation.
Those already in place included additional fencing, increased penalties for people doing the wrong thing, and more rangers on the island.
Regarding the latest attack, Ms Linard confirmed one of the dingoes had been involved in a previous incident.
"(Rangers) have been monitoring that dingo since that time, so once that occurred, the animal obviously has now been collared," she said.
"They take it very, very seriously when these interactions occur."
Ms Linard said the dingo population had been stable at about 200 animals for some time.
"That's a sustainable population, they have a sustainable food source on the island," she said.
Ms Linard plans to travel to K'gari on Wednesday.
Rangers have previously attributed a rise in attacks to increasing numbers of people defying bans on feeding and interacting with the animals.
Advice given to visitors includes staying close to children, walking in groups, not running and never feeding the dingoes.
Darren Blake, from the Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the traditional owners of K'gari, said it was important visitors understood that wongari were wild animals.
"They're not puppy dogs, they’re wild apex predators - give them that respect," he told ABC Radio.
"My heart goes out to the young lady, and hopefully this hits home for everybody else."
