The mother of a backpacker found dead and mauled by dingoes on the Queensland island of K'gari wants her daughter to be remembered as a free-spirited girl who spent two summers fighting bushfires in her native Canada.
Piper James, 19, had gone for an early-morning swim before her body was found surrounded by a pack of about 10 dingoes on a beach on the tourist island on Monday.
Speaking to 9News from their family home on Vancouver Island, Piper's mum Angela James said her daughter was "having the time of her life" in Australia.
READ MORE: 'Worst possible outcome': Grave fears for boy mauled by shark
"She loved it there. She just loved it. She thought it was beautiful," Angela said.
Piper would often phone her parents early in the morning from the beach on K'gari.
"She quite often would set her alarm to get up, catch the sunrise, which is what she did that day," Angela said.
"I think that's what she probably got up to do. But she never got the opportunity to."
Angela wants her daughter to be remembered as the girl who rode dirt bikes and spent two summers fighting wildfires in British Columbia to save money to see the world.
"They had done an adventure tour in K'gari and just thought it was just amazing, and fell in love with the people there that worked there, and they just clicked. And they offered the girls a job," Angela said.
Piper had spent the last six weeks working as a housekeeper at a backpacker campsite with her hometown friend Taylor Stricker.
The campsite was merely a few hundred metres from the beach where her body was found.
"It's just a tragic accident, it's tragic. I don't know, maybe something needs to be done to keep people a little safer, that's all," Angela said.
Piper's father, Todd James, said the family was shattered and in pain over her death.
"We will always remember her infectious laugh and her kind spirit," he wrote in a post on social media this morning.
"So many are going to miss you, my precious little baby girl.
"May be gone, but how can we ever forget you?"
James added that he had supported her to travel to Australia and loved hearing about the bonds and friendships she was developing.
"I admired her strength and determination to go after her dreams," he said.
"She was glad I was on board for her trip to Australia. Lol, she said, 'Because I'm 18, and you can't stop me!'
"Piper would work hard so she could play hard."
READ MORE: 'Saw it shake the board': Shark survivor recounts moment of attack
Her body, found covered in bites and scratches, was due to undergo an autopsy on mainland Queensland today.
"There's going to be an autopsy, and it's important that that be made public, and there's a considered response to that," Premier David Crisafulli said.
The examination is hoped to provide answers as to whether she died from drowning or being mauled by dingoes.
The potential that dingoes could be responsible has stunned locals and tourists alike.
The last fatal dingo attack on K'gari was 25 years ago, when a nine-year-old boy was killed in 2001.
Since then, Indigenous elders claim they've repeatedly warned the state government that dingoes, known as "wongaris" to the Aboriginal community, are growing more dangerous as tourism takes over.
"We asked them to close camping grounds down, they don't do anything. So yes I do believe we could've made a difference," Butchulla Aboriginal Corporation's Christine Royan said.
K'gari has a permanent population of about 150 people, and about 400,000 tourists visit every year.
READ MORE: 'The miracle': 6-year-old girl is the sole survivor of a family that perished in Spanish train wreck
Each car needs a paid permit and there is limited accommodation in towns and camping zones, but there is no official cap on visitor numbers.
"We're going to fight anybody that wants to actually remove the wongaris from K'gari. What we need to do is look at better management of K'gari," Royan said.
"The premier, I don't even think you've had a visit on K'gari. About time you come over and listen to the real issues."
Crisafulli said he had been to K'gari "many times", but has not visited since he became premier.
Police said the incident has been traumatising to Piper's friend, the two men who found her, officers and the wider community.
People have been warned to stay away from dingoes.
"Dingoes are wild animals, and whilst 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," Wide Bay District Inspector Paul Algie said on Monday.
DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.