Rangers are rejecting calls for a dingo cull at a popular tourist spot despite a woman being hospitalised after she was attacked by a pack of the dogs while jogging on a beach.
She was flown to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition with wounds to her limbs and torso after suffering multiple bite injuries about 9am on Monday, the Queensland Ambulance Service said.
Rangers said at least three dingoes attacked the 24-year-old while she jogged at Orchid Beach in the island's northeast.
She ran into the water to escape the pack.
Two men in a four-wheel-drive saw the incident and rushed into the ocean to help, placing the injured woman in the back of their ute and driving her to safety.
First aid was applied to the woman’s injuries and one of the men injured his hand during the rescue.
Despite the growing number of attacks, rangers have angrily rejected calls to cull the dingo population on the tourist destination formerly known as Fraser Island.
"Culling in the situation on K'gari is not an option - culling for the sake of culling," ranger-in-charge Linda Behrendorff said.
"Our job is to mitigate risk.
"You need to know the individuals, you need to work with the individual dingoes and you also need to work with the situation that those dingoes are in."
Rangers confirmed the woman was chased into the ocean by at least three dingoes (known as wongari) and said her actions increased the risk of attack.
"We have been led to believe that she was running alone initially," Ms Berendorff said.
"We need to work with people that are visiting the island - how not to put yourself in a situation that may lead to a compromising position."
At least one of the animals in the pack was classified as a risk and has a collar with a device to track movement and behaviour.
"It is an animal with high-risk potential about it," Ms Behrendorff said.
"One of the dingoes we have identified has been involved in a previous incident which was involved in contact ... it was lunging with an intent to make contact."
Camera collars have been used to track dingo movements and their human interactions on the island since 2011.
The collars are lightweight and are worn by dingoes for up to three months, releasing via a timed drop-off mechanism.
The attack is the latest in a number of incidents, prompting safety warnings for visitors.
This includes an eight-year-old boy being attacked on a beach earlier this month and a dingo dragging a 10-year-old boy under water in June.
Rangers attribute rise in attacks to increasing numbers of people defying restrictions to feed and interact with the animals, with 100 to 200 animals estimated to populate the island.
"This is not normal dingo behaviour," ranger Danielle Mansfield after a recent attack.
"We're seeing an increase in habituated animals, unfortunately from people inadvertently or deliberately feeding animals.
"This creates animals who are not wary of people and they are brazenly going up to adults and children and having inappropriate interactions with them."
Rangers reminded visitors to remain vigilant, especially when supervising children.
"There are too many instances where children are not being appropriately supervised - on K’gari, this means children and teenagers must be within arm’s reach of an adult at all times."
