Komodo island tourism to be restricted, not banned, as officials fear tourists are harmful to the species and habitat of the island's 2,000 Komodo dragons.
Indonesian officials on Thursday backtracked on plans to bar tourists from visiting the rugged Komodo Island, home to the eponymous giant lizards.BBC News reportedOfficials reversed plans to shut visitors out of the island — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — for a year in order to preserve the wildlife, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan told local media this week.
In July, East Nusa Tenggara Governor Viktor Laiskodat announced plans to close the island in order to stop people from interfering in the animals' mating and hatching processes, and to cut the risk of poaching of the reptiles’ prey, including deer, buffalo and wild boar. Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world, reaching up to 10 feet in length, and are listed as"vulnerable" by the. But the environment ministry has said that the population of the dragons has remained relatively stable since 2002.
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