here's a dream animal that we will prob never own - the iconic Komodo Dragon. that's ok w/ me butt not for some people. recently Indonesian police busted a smuggling ring of young Komodo Dragons and now officials are shutting down their native island to thwart smugglers and tourists/tourism who trample their lands. they will spend at least the next year restoring the fauna including prey for the dragons.




good luck dragons! i hope they can rebound.

story: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...ers/ar-BBVAUi6
Tourists banned from home of Komodo dragon as smugglers eye dwindling numbers

Tourists will be banned from Komodo Island, the home of the ancient Komodo dragon, from January 2020 to allow for conservation efforts, after a smuggling case involving the endangered animal.

The island, in Maggarai Barat Indonesia, has been a major tourist destination, with many making the trip to see the lizard, which has a poisonous bite, can grow up to three metres long and weigh 50kg.

Authorities said the island would be closed temporarily so they can plant native vegetation and help to restock the dragon’s food supply, reported Tempo newspaper, increasing the population. It is not clear when it will reopen but earlier discussions have suggested it may last a year.

The closure announcement came after police in East Java arrested five people accused of smuggling Komodo dragons and other protected animals in March. Police said the suspects had sold Komodos through Facebook and had already sold more than 41 of them. Tempo reported the lizards sold for 500m rupiah (£26,500) each.

It is estimated that there are about 5,000 Komodo dragons in the wild and the animal is listed as both endangered and protected. They are found in the wild primarily on the eastern Indonesian islands of Komodo, Padar and Rinca.

Komodo Island is part of the Komodo national park, which also includes two other large land masses, and many smaller islands. The rest of the park will remain open and one of the larger islands also has Komodo dragons.

Discussions about closing the island have been going on since at least January, when the East Nusa Tenggara governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat suggested the park may remain closed for a year to increase the population of Komodo dragons and deer, which it eats. The governor said there were concerns that the lizard’s numbers had decreased, due to declining prey and shrinking habitat.

The question of how to manage sustainable tourism levels to the island has been a fraught one. In 2016, a major upgrade of Labuan Bajo regional airport, which serves the 29 islands that make up the Unesco-protected park meant it went from being able to handle 150,000 tourists a year to 1.5 million.

Much is still being learnt about the ancient lizard, which was only discovered by Europeans in the early 20th century. It was not until 2009 that scientists discovered the lizard had a very weak but poisonous bite and killed its prey by infecting it and letting it bleed to death.

In 2013, two people were taken to hospital after being attacked by a giant Komodo dragon that wandered into the office of a wildlife park in eastern Indonesia.
also here: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/wor...twe-story.html

and this one has a vid: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/i...ure/index.html
Indonesia's famed Komodo Island may close for one year

(CNN) — Wildlife fans planning to visit Komodo Island to hang out with the largest lizards on Earth in 2020 will have to adjust their Indonesia travel plans.
According to local media, government officials are closing the popular island to tourists for one year.

A report by Indonesia's Tempo newspaper quotes provincial administration spokesman Marius Jelamu as saying Komodo will be off-limits from January 2020.
So why shut one of Indonesia's most popular tourist destinations?

Though plans to limit the number of Komodo visitors have been under discussion for months, Tempo reports the closure comes in response to the March bust of an alleged smuggling ring in which 41 Komodo lizards were taken from the island and sold abroad for 500 million rupiah each (about $35,000).

During the closure, officials will reportedly embark on a conservation program aimed at increasing the population of the dragons while preserving their habitat.
The protected animals, famed for their venomous bites and massive size, can grow up to 10 feet in length and weigh as much as 70 kilos.

New infrastructure boosts visitor numbers
Part of the UNESCO-listed Komodo National Park, Komodo Island has grown increasingly popular in recent years thanks to the addition of new flights and hotels in the nearby town of Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores. The park currently receives an average of 10,000 visitors per month.
According to UNESCO figures, there are more than 5,000 dragons spread across the national park's islands of Komodo, Rinca, Gili Motong and some coastal regions of western and northern Flores.

Tempo reports that only Komodo Island will close; the rest of the national park will remain open to tourism.
In addition to super-sized lizards, the area offers exceptional diving and snorkeling opportunities as well as breathtaking scenery.
CNN Travel has reached out to Indonesia Tourism for clarifications on the closure but has yet to receive an official response.
Cracking down on over-tourism

News of the upcoming Komodo Island travel ban is the latest in a series of high profile closures ordered in major tourist destinations in Southeast Asia in the name of rehabilitation.
Thailand's Maya Bay, made famous by 2000 film "The Beach," has been closed since June of 2018 as part of a rejuvenation program aimed at reviving the area's decimated corals and installing additional boat jetties, among other activities.
A re-opening date hasn't yet been announced.

Meanwhile, the Philippines' famed Boracay island reopened in October 2018, six months after closing for a massive cleanup operation.
and another one: https://sg.style.yahoo.com/indonesia...073404435.html