The local mayor of K’gari island says an “escalation of dingo activity” has been observed on the island over the last five years, as police investigate whether the tragic death on Monday morning was a drowning or dingo attack.

A 19-year-old Canadian backpacker was found dead on a K’gari beach surrounded by a pack of dingoes with possible ‘defensive wounds’.

The woman went to a beach about 5am 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 is understood the woman was living and working on the island for six weeks with a friend.

Local Fraser Coast mayor George Seymour told the Today show it was a “very unusual situation” to find a body on the beach and not know if the woman drowned or was attacked by a pack of dingoes.

He says despite the last dingo attack being 25 years ago, there was an “escalation of dingo activity” over the last five years.

“A big part of what (the rangers) do is to try and separate dingoes from humans, but we’re continuing to have this situation of dingoes, and in some ways it’s inevitable that there will be a fatality, given how many bites and attacks are happening over the years,” he said.

Mr Seymour says tourists should stay away, always be alert and parents with young children to keep them at arm’s length while on the world heritage site, formerly known as Fraser Island.

Yet the local mayor says the most dangerous place to be in K’gari is in the car or water.

“The rollovers, there’s been shark attacks, there’s been drownings. So while dingoes are a threat, they’re certainly not the most dangerous thing over on Fraser Island,” he said.

“This is a shocking tragedy that has really affected our community. We expect the post mortem examination to take place tomorrow, on Wednesday, and that hopefully will provide some answers,” Mr Seymour said.

‘Can’t confirm’: Backpackers death status unknown

Wide Bay District Inspector Paul 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.

Mr Algie said the woman’s 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.”

Witnesses said they saw at least 12 dingoes around the woman’s body at the waterline.

She sustained possible ‘defensive wounds’ to her body, the Courier-Mail reports.

Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.

NewsWire has contacted the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation for comment.