Komodo dragon island off limits

JAKARTA: Indonesia plans to close its eastern island of Komodo to the public next year in a bid to conserve rare Komodo dragons, the largest living species of lizard, a provincial official said yesterday.

The island is part of Komodo National Park, a conservation area between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores visited by more than 176 000 tourists from all over the world last year. The dragons are only found in the wild in eastern Indonesia.

Closing the island to tourists aims to avert interference and cut the risk of poaching to allow a recovery in the numbers of the animals’ preferred prey, such as deer, buffalo and wild boar.

The island could reopen a year later, but it was planned to be a premium tourist destination.