KOMODO DRAGONS AND HUMANS: CONSERVATION, SCIENTISTS, VILLAGERS

KOMODO DRAGONS AND HUMANS

Indonesian stamps

Komodo dragons are an important ecotourism draw. Scientists are conducting studies on their venom and how they are able have strains of lethal bacteria living in their saliva without being affected by them. They are not really as dangerous as they are sometimes made out to be.. "They are kind of indifferent to you," Dale Marcellini, the chief herpetologist at the National Zoo in Washington told Henry Allen of the Washington Post, "One morning in Komodo I took a walk up a river bed. I saw a dragon coming, a big one. I decided to try an experiment. I sat down and waited for it...I watched it walk right past me. It never looked at me."

Indonesia currently has a population of about 3,000 Komodo dragons, according to government data. Most of them — around 1,700 — live on Komodo Island, and around 1,000 more live on Rinca. The origin of the Komodo dragon's name is not known. Perhaps it was a Chinese fisherman who named them after the important Chinese symbol in culture and mythology. Some think that perhaps the mythical dragon was inspired by a Komodo dragon though that seems highly unlikely. Some ancient maps of the region where Komodo dragons are found were emblazoned with the words “Here be dragons”.

Komodo dragons were “discovered” by Europeans in 1912. Stories by pearl divers and fishermen circulated about fearsome creatures with large teeth, fearsome claws and fiery yellow tongues. After hearing stories about six-meter-long "dragons" and "land crocodiles" known to locals as "ora," a Dutch civil servant named Lieut. Van Steyn Hensbroke decided to travel to Komodo and see what the fuss was about. There he encountered some Komodo dragons that were about two and half meters long. Hensbroke killed one and the skin was sent to a museum in Buitenzorg (present-day Bogor), where the animal was described and given the scientific name “Varanus komodoensis”. Not long after that local rulers and colonial administrators, realizing the uniqueness and rareness of the animal, made it illegal to capture or hunt Komodo dragons.

The Indonesian care very little about Komodo dragons. Crocodiles and Garuda birds are common themes in painting on textiles. But you never see a Komodo dragon. "No symbolism," Marcellini said, "It's very odd. We're more fascinated than the Indonesians are." Local villagers have never hunted them, in part because they are not good to eat and also because there was plenty of fish in the sea and other game on land such as wild pigs and deer, which are far tastier.

Locals and scientists keep Komodo dragons at a distance by poking them with forked sticks.

Komodo Island and National Park

Komodo Island (about 480 kilometers, 300 miles east of Bali and generally reached by boat from Flores) is the home of the famous Komodo Dragon, the world largest lizard, which can reach lengths of three meters including the tail, and wasn't even discovered by outsiders until 1912. Tourists used to come to see the dragons fed on a goat in a pit. The pit exists but dragons are no longer fed there. Some visitors skip Komodo altogether and look for dragons on Rinca island because it is easier to get to. Komodo Dragons also live on Rinca, Padar and western Flores. These volcanic islands are inhabited by a population of around 5,700 giant lizards. Komodo Dragons exist nowhere else in the world and are of great interest to scientists, especially for their evolutionary implications.

About 30 kilometers long, Komodo is comprised mostly of grassy hills, steep mountains and dry savannahs. The forests are filled with tamarind and kapok trees. The dry savannah feature Lonar Palms, and stunted Sujube trees. The rugged hillsides of dry savannah and pockets of thorny green vegetation contrast starkly with the brilliant white sandy beaches and the blue waters surging over coral. In 1928, Komodo was named a Wilderness Area, one of the first of its kind in Asia. Komodo National Park encompasses an area of 173,00 hectares, with three fourth of that on land and one fourth in the sea.

Komodo National Park (between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores) is composed of three major islands (Rinca, Komodo, and Padar) and numerous smaller ones, all of them of volcanic origin. Located at the juncture of two continental plates, this national park constitutes the “shatter belt” within the Wallacea Biogeographical Region, between the Australian and Sunda ecosystems. The property is identified as a global conservation priority area, comprising unparalleled terrestrial and marine ecosystems and covers a total area of 219,322 ha. The dry climate has triggered specific evolutionary adaptation within the terrestrial flora that range from open grass-woodland savanna to tropical deciduous (monsoon) forest and quasi cloud forest. The rugged hillsides and dry vegetation highly contrast with the sandy beaches and the blue coral-rich waters. [Source: UNESCO]

Endangered Komodo Dragons

Komodo dragons are endangered in the wild and protected by international law. There are between 3,000 and 5,000 of them living in the wild and around 200 in captivity, mostly in zoos. They never occupied a large range. In addition to their present habitat they once roamed throughout the western and northwestern coast of Flores but are now found only in isolated populations there. On the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Komodo dragons are listed as Endangered. On the US Federal List they are classified as Endangered. In CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild) they are in Appendix I, which lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants. Their biggest threat is loss of habitat. [Source: Leanne Lawwell, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]

In 2021, Komodo dragons were moved from a vulnerable species to an endangered one on the IUCN's Red List. The IUCN said that rising temperatures and sea levels are to blame, as they expect the dragons' suitable habitat space to be reduced "by at least 30 percent in the next 45 years." As for some of the creatures living on the unprotected nearby island of Flores, human activity has resulted in significant habitat loss, as well as hunting for the same food resources.“The expected Komodo dragon population decline in the coming decades comes as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated around 1,380 adults and 2,000 juveniles remain. In 1994, The New York Times estimated there were 5,000-8,000 in existence. [Source: Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, September 14, 2021]

Jennifer S. Holland wrote in National Geographic: “Ecologist Tim Jessop of the University of Melbourne said the that teh dragons are scattered over a small number of islands, there’s reduced genetic diversity, which limits their ability to adapt. The dragons could improve their genetic pool by swimming from island to island to mate. But while they’re capable swimmers, strong currents and differences between island habitats discourage them. Besides, they’re homebodies.” Scientists are respectfully pressing Indonesian officials and mustering support for dragon preservation. They speak to islanders on Flores of the danger to dragons from habitat loss and the poaching of prey. They hope to better monitor protected areas and train rangers in dragon biology so they can offer information to scientists about how the animals are faring. [Source: Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic, January 2014 /=/]

Brendan Borrell wrote in Smithsonian Magazine, “ Conservationists say the animals have the most restricted geographic range of any large predator, and that poses a risk because a volcanic eruption or an islandwide fire could prove devastating. Jessop, says the populations remain stable and healthy on Komodo and Rinca islands, but the numbers are falling on the smaller islands. On Flores, which is heavily developed and lies outside the national park, fewer than 100 dragons eke out a tenuous existence, and people (illegally) poison them to protect their goats. A small local organization, the Komodo Survival Program, was founded by one of Jessop’s Indonesian collaborators. But most of the support comes from park entry fees and businesses catering to dragon tourism. Komodo dragons may not rank up with panda bears on the cuteness scale, but they have undoubtedly become a flagship species that has helped convince locals and visitors to embrace conservation in Indonesia. The dragon is “a creature of imagination and fantasy,” says Fry. Except it’s real. And, he adds, “You are able to get up to it very, very close.” [Source: Brendan Borrell, Smithsonian Magazine, February 2013 =]

The future of Komodo dragons doesn't totally bad. Not many people live on Komodo and the other islands where dragons are found and thus they do not face a loss of habitat like other large animals. Most of these people are fisherman and do not use dragon habit for agricultural lands. Taking timber for fires is more of a theat. Early censuses counted very few juveniles, which raised an alarm about their future. Later it was discovered that the juveniles were in trees, where the census takers couldn’t see them. The near disappearance of Komodo dragons from Padar was due to poaching of dragon pery and fires. Komodo dragons are kept at more than 50 zoos around the world and some are believed to be in the possession of individuals. Komodo dragons sell for up to $50,000 on the black market.

Walter Auffenberg and Komodo Dragons

Komodo dragons on Rinca island

Jennifer S. Holland wrote in National Geographic: “The first man to really sit with dragons for a spell was Walter Auffenberg, a curator at the Florida State Museum. In 1969 and ’70 he and his family camped on Komodo Island for 13 months, recording detailed observations of the animals’ every move. He authored an insightful book, The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor. [Source: Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic, January 2014 /=/]

“Auffenberg’s family was surprisingly relaxed about venturing afar to rough it among deadly animals. Packing up powdered milk and chocolate, his wife, Eleanor, told a local newspaper that her best friend thought she was crazy. “Crazy, maybe,” Eleanor replied. “Worried, no.” Life in a big city would be more terrifying, she said. /=/

“During the fieldwork Auffenberg wrote of curious dragons wandering into his blind. One tongue flicked his tape recorder, knife, and feet. To encourage the lizard to leave, he flicked back, tapping it on the head with his pencil. Apparently it worked. Another “stretched out in the shade … with his front leg draped over mine as he lay there half asleep.” Auffenberg was able to prod the animal to leave without incident. /=/

Studying Komodo Dragons

Komodo dragons are captured by scientist with long wooden boxes that have a trap door that closes when the lizard enters it to get some bait of carrion or meet. Transmitters have been glued onto the lizard’s skin or placed into dragon food. The ones placed in food remain in the digestive system for a few days before being expelled. Among the things scientists have discovered is “Aponomma komodoense”, a kind of a parasite that lives only the scales of Komodo dragons.

Jennifer S. Holland wrote in National Geographic: “Here’s what it takes to catch a dragon. Slaughter a goat. Cut it up. Enlist a few strong friends to hoist three ten-foot-long steel traps, grab bags of goat meat, and trek a few miles up and down knee-punishing hills. Ignore the 90-plus-degree heat that wraps you up and steams you like a dumpling. Set up the first trap with hunks of flesh and hang a few meat bags in trees to “scent” the air. Hike another couple of miles. Lay another trap. Cover three or four more miles, repeat. Return to camp; fill a bucket with cold water and dump it over your head. Sleep. Revisit each trap in the morning and afternoon for the next two days. They’ll likely be empty, but if you’re lucky, you’ll draw near, and there it will be: the world’s biggest lizard, a grim-faced giant known as the Komodo dragon. [Source: Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic, January 2014 /=/]

“The man who devised this scheme is not your stereotypical dragon hunter. Claudio Ciofi, in his late 40s, a biologist and lecturer at the University of Florence. He arrived in Indonesia in 1994 to complete a Ph.D. on dragon genetics. Ciofi expanded his research. He sought to understand every aspect of a dragon’s life. With quiet persistence and top-notch Indonesian and Australian collaborators, he has given us much of our knowledge of the dragons

“When Ciofi and I arrive on Flores, the team’s 26 traps have caught just four dragons (and many more dogs), down from 14 the same time the year before. But this may not indicate a reduced population. Cameras at the sites show the dragons sniffing traps, then deciding not to walk inside...Then on my second to last day, the stars align. There are three traps to check. The first round — nothing. On the next circuit we see pebbly skin through the gaps of trap number three. It’s just a little dragon, less than four feet nose to tail tip, perhaps three years old. Subtly pretty (if you keep an open mind), it has dark gray, yellow, and orange body scales and faded dark bands down the tail. I kneel for a better look through a hole in the metal; it peers back with one yellow-ringed eye. Then the dragon catchers remove it with hook and lasso, tape its mouth closed (for our protection), and gently but firmly tie its legs and arms to its body to keep it still. /=/

“Next comes a flurry of activity. The team quickly measures the captive, weighs it in a sling, and uses a microchip reader to search (in vain) for a tag beneath the skin that would represent a previous capture. Blood is drawn from the tail for genetic analysis; photos are snapped from every angle. The trappers who seek to preserve this ancient species speak matter-of-factly of the encounter: “It’s our job.” In less than 20 minutes off comes the mouth tape, and the animal is set free. It takes off like a shot into the woods, flinging dirt and rocks with madly scraping claws — the no-nonsense retreat of a real-life dragon. /=/

Captive Breeding and DNA Studies of Komodo Dragons

Between 1982 and 1997, captive breeding programs increased the number of Komodo dragons by around 160. The National Zoo in Washington scored a big coup when a couple of dragons, presented to the zoo as a gift from Indonesia to the United States, mated and produced 45 offspring which were given to zoos elsewhere in the U.S. The success was particularly surprising considering the fact that nobody was sure if the parents were a male and female.

Jennifer S. Holland wrote in National Geographic: “To learn more about dragons, Ciofi, Jessop, and their Indonesian colleagues have caught and tagged about a thousand and have DNA samples from 800. Their efforts have told them a lot about numbers, male-female ratios, survival rates, and breeding success — and how inbred the populations are. The genetic differences they find aren’t the kinds of things that show up on the outside — bigger teeth or fatter tails. They’re the seemingly innocent codes within that dictate who survives and who doesn’t. Then comes the match game: figuring out how to shift animals from one group to another, making sure the newcomers aren’t related to each other. [Source: Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic, January 2014 /=/]

“A more extreme approach, if numbers were to plummet, would be to ship in zoo animals to bolster the gene pool. In Indonesia Komodo dragons have been breeding in captivity since 1965. In 1992 the first baby dragon was born outside the homeland, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Since then, breeding efforts have gone like gangbusters. Today about 400 dragons live in zoos worldwide. /=/

“But playing God is controversial, Jessop notes: “We could be breaking the evolutionary integrity — messing with the natural path the animals are on. Some people are reluctant to do that.” Besides, programs that relocate local animals only “work about half the time.” Nor is the transition from zoo life to the wild an easy one. And there is no guarantee that putting adult dragons together will yield offspring — or that the dragons can survive long term in such unevenly protected habitat. /=/

Komodo Dragon’s Blood — Source of New Antibiotic?

In April 2017, scientists at George Mason University announced in a study published in the journal Biofilms and Microbiomes that they had isolated a substance in the blood of a Komodo dragon that appeared to have powerful germ-killing abilities. Donald G. McNeil Jr. wrote in the New York Times, “Inspired by the discovery, they created a similar chemical in the lab and dubbed it DRGN-1. Tests on mice that were given skin wounds infected with two types of bacteria showed that DRGN-1 had three valuable properties: It punched holes in the outer membranes of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, it dissolved the biofilms that glue bacteria together, and it sped skin healing. [Source: Donald G. McNeil Jr., New York Times, April 17, 2017]

“The study’s lead authors, Monique L. Van Hoek and Barney M. Bishop, study crocodilians and monitor lizards like the dragon because they can survive grievous wounds, including lost limbs, in filthy environments without getting infected. It is unclear how dragons kill prey, Dr. Bishop said. They have serrated teeth and their mouths teem with bacteria, so it was long believed that sepsis caused by the bacteria weakened their larger victims, like deer. But in 2009 Australian researchers discovered that the dragons also inject a shock-inducing venom.

“Because Komodo dragons are endangered and considered divine in their native Indonesia, the researchers had to find one that lived in a zoo and was under the care of keepers brave enough to take blood samples without anesthesia. At the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and Zoological Park in Florida, they found Tujah, a 100-pound male whose keepers distracted him while about four tablespoons of blood was taken from his tail. “No dragons were harmed in this process, and we won’t be creating dragon farms to bleed them,” Dr. Bishop said. Tujah’s blood is a “rich source” of potential antibiotics. Dr. Van Hoek and her colleages are testing more than 40 other substances isolated from it. Wild dragons might have even more defenses against infection, but the researchers said they were unlikely to find out. “I wouldn’t turn down wild dragon blood if it was sent to me and I thought it was collected ethically,” Dr. Bishop said. “But I’m not going to go out in the wild to try to get it.”

Komodo Dragon Destroys BBC Camera by Trying to Have Sex with It

A komodo dragon destroyed cameras trying to film it for a BBC wildlife show after trying to have sex with one of them. Yahoo UK reported: “State-of-the-art equipment was hidden inside both a lifesize imitation of a female komodo dragon and a fake pig placed amid a pack of the giant lizards during filming for new series Spy in the Wild 2, narrated by David Tennant. [Source: Albertina Lloyd, Entertainment reporter, Yahoo UK, January 14, 2020]

“According to The Sun newspaper, executive producer John Downer revealed the male dragons began trying to mate with the imitation lizard and became increasingly frustrated when the model did not respond — so they took their frustration out on the fake pig containing the recording equipment. He said: “With its massive claws this dragon starts raking at the skin of the ‘female’, and there’s nothing you can do because you can't intervene. You just hope it will realise there’s something not right and it will stop.

“"But then this pig, with all our equipment in it, was in the wrong place at the wrong time and they just annihilated it. “It was breeding season and they’d been riled up by fighting over this female and testosterone gets the worst of us. They were like dinosaurs, it was just unbelievable, it was totally smashed to pieces.”

Conservation in Komodo National Park

Jennifer S. Holland wrote in National Geographic: “Although no one has solid figures, the dragon population appears to have declined over the past 50 years. The government offered legal protection, responding to pressure from conservationists and also realizing the economic value of dragon-related tourism. In 1980 much of the dragon’s habitat was turned into Komodo National Park (KNP), which encompasses all of Komodo, Rinca, and other smaller islands. Later three nature reserves were added, two of them on Flores Island. Dragons are safeguarded from any human assault within KNP. What’s more, dragon prey is also off-limits: Killing deer is forbidden. And thus villagers are no longer able to offer meat. That, some say, has made the dragons more than a bit peeved. [Source: Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic, January 2014 /=/]

“Dragon salvation relies heavily on the mundane issue of land management. On Flores, despite the nature reserves, locals set fires to clear land for gardens and pastures, breaking dragon habitat into small fragments. Also, some people still hunt the deer and pigs that dragons like, as do feral dogs. And scientists suspect the dogs may chase — and even kill — young dragons, which spend their first year in the treetops but then come down to earth. So the Flores dragons are boxed in: by villages, farmland, rice fields, the sea, and the dogs. That means less living space and a decline in prey. And ultimately fewer dragons. /=/

The boundaries are the park considered adequate to secure the habitat and the main ecological processes to preserve them. The extensive marine buffer zone surrounding the park is key to maintaining the integrity and intactness of the property and the number of exceptional species that it hosts. Illegal fishing and poaching remain the main threats to the values of the property and its overall integrity. There is an extensive marine buffer zone to the park, in which management authority staff has authority to regulate the type of fishing permitted and to some extent the presence of fishermen from outside the area. This buffer zone, which assists in controlling poaching of the terrestrial species that provide the prey species for the komodo lizard, will become significant in the overall long-term protection of the property. [Source: UNESCO]

Komodo National Park is managed by the central government of Indonesia through the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Natural Conservation of the Ministry of Forestry. The history of protection afforded the site goes back to 1938 while official protection began when Ministerial Decree declared the area as a 72,000 ha National Park in March 1980. This area was subsequently extended to 219,322 ha in 1984 to include an expanded marine area and the section of mainland Flores. Comprised of Komodo Game Reserve (33,987 hectares), Rinca Island Nature Reserve (19,625 hectares), Padar Island Nature Reserve (1,533 hectares), Mbeliling and Nggorang Protection Forest (31,000 hectares), Wae Wuul and Mburak Game Reserve (3,000 hectares) and surrounding marine areas (130,177 hectares) the Komodo Biosphere Reserve was accepted under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme in January 1977. In 1990 a national law, elevating the legislative mandate for conservation to the parliamentary and presidential level significantly empowered the legal basis for protection and management.

In order to ensure the effective management and protection of the park and its exceptional landscapes and biota, the park is governed through the 2000-2025 Management Plan and a 2010-2014 Strategic Plan, which will require revision and updating. These plans are important for ensuring the effective zoning system of the park and guaranteeing the sustainability of the ecosystems of the property. The management authority is known for designing specific plans to guide management decisions which will require updating in line with changes to priorities and threats, in particular expected increases in visitor numbers and impacts from tourism.

The Park receives strong support and resources from the central government of Indonesia. As a tourism location known worldwide, the Indonesian Government has a specific program for ecotourism management to promote the park at the international level and to ensure the sustainability of tourism activities. Additionally, in order to address illegal fishing and poaching, regular patrolling of the marine and terrestrial areas is carried out for law enforcement and a number of the problems and impacts associated with these activities have decreased. Community awareness and empowerment programs are being implemented to engage the local villagers regards to the sustainable use of natural resources and park conservation. Research and study of the unique biological features of the park is also being promoted and supported by the management authority.

Increasing levels of tourism and matters related specifically to the komodo lizard are the major management issues that have been focused on to date. A broadening of the management focus to address issues within the marine area of the park along with other terrestrial species is required to ensure the long-term effective conservation of the property. A focus on the issue of depletion of Komodo monitor prey species stocks has resulted in some success and the same efforts need to be focused on the issues of damaging fishing practices and impacts on other unique species contained within the property.

Komodo Dragons and Local Villagers

Jennifer S. Holland wrote in National Geographic: “Despite the dragon’s somewhat off-putting habits, islanders do not necessarily respond with fear and disgust. An Indonesian folk story tells of a prince about to slay a dragon. His mother, the Dragon Princess, appears and cries, “Do not kill this animal. She is your sister Orah. I bore you together. Consider her your equal, because you are sebai — twins.” [Source: Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic, January 2014 /=/]

“Modern times have not entirely quashed this belief. In Komodo village I climb a crooked wooden ladder to the house on stilts of an elder named Caco, who guesses his age to be 85 years. My guide says this slight, bespectacled man is a dragon guru; the elder doesn’t refute the title. I ask him how villagers feel about dragons and the danger they pose. “People here consider this animal our ancestor,” he says. “It is sacred.” “In years past when islanders would kill a deer, he said, they’d leave half the meat as an offering to their scaly relative...Cacotold me villagers used to offer tree seeds, a local tree leaf, an egg, and the tobacco from one cigarette to lure dragons out of the hills...Today villagers who see a dragon coming close or putting the move on livestock will typically yell and throw rocks. “People who live with dragons are used to living with dragons,” a local guide named Ciofi says. “You might shoo a squirrel away that comes to steal your lunch. They treat dragons like that.” /=/

“Komodo island is about the size of the San Gabriel Valley and its population is tiny, roughly 1,300 in Komodo village and a dozen or so who stay at the park headquarters. Richard C. Paddock wrote in the Los Angeles Times, Komodo National Park, is one of the few places in Indonesia where people are scarce. It is also one of the few places in the country where the need to protect nature has been placed above the economic interests of people. The result is a park that is pristine and well-protected, a rare species that appears to be thriving, a place where damaged coral reefs are making a comeback and the human population lives in squalor. The ramshackle village stretches along Loh Liang bay to the south, and its setting is spectacular. It sits on a narrow strip of land, with steep hills rising behind it. The creation of the park, which the U.S.-based Nature Conservancy helps manage, brought sharp restrictions on the ways in which villagers could make a living. Hunting, farming and logging in dragon habitat was banned. So were bombing the reefs with homemade explosives and fishing with cyanide. . [Source: Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2006 ^*^]

Complaints by Local Villagers About Komodo Dragons

Richard C. Paddock wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Mohammed Sidik used to sell goats to Komodo National Park to feed to the wild Komodo dragons in a gory display for tourists. Park officials banned the practice in the 1990s because they worried that the dragons were becoming lazy. Now the 10-foot-long predators waddle three miles to this squalid coastal village, raid Sidik's herd and eat his goats for free. "For the last two years they have been coming to the village," said Sidik, 60, who has lost seven animals to the dragons. "When they get thirsty, they come down to our well. The park no longer feeds goats to the dragons, so now the dragons come here." The dragons' visits highlight how things have gone in Komodo National Park since its founding in 1980: great for dragons, not so great for people (and still not good for goats). [Source: Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2006 ^*^]

“Sidik said he didn't know whether the dragons on Komodo were also growing in number or just getting bolder. Until the mid-1990s, he and other villagers sold goats to the park. Several times a week, the animals were slaughtered and hung from trees for the dragons to feed on. The feedings attracted tourists who came to see the dragons tear the animals apart. Today Sidik allows his goats to roam free and graze at the outskirts of the village. ^

“One day, while checking on the animals, he saw a goat walking toward a dragon that was lying in the grass as if asleep. When the goat drew close, the dragon suddenly swung its huge tail and smashed the animal to the ground. Before the dragon could bite it, Sidik said, he began throwing stones at the lizard and drove it back. He rescued the goat, which was injured but recovered. Sidik accepts the need to protect the Komodo by restricting human activity — even though a thriving dragon population will continue to pose a danger to his goats. "If they find us cutting trees, they can put us in jail," he said. "It's hard, because if we want to build houses, we have to buy wood from Labuan Bajo. But what can we say? It's the law." ^

Poverty and Lack of Jobs for Komodo Villagers

Reporting from Komodo, Richard C. Paddock wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Amid the influx of tourists, little has been done to create new economic opportunities for the villagers. "What we regret most is that we welcomed the national park with open arms but they haven't done anything for us in 20 years," said Amin Bakar, the village secretary. The island's beauty stands in stunning contrast to the poverty of the village. "It used to be easy for us to hunt for deer and get food, and we used to chop down the trees to build houses, and if we wanted to go fishing it was unlimited.” A plump woman of 35, Mala sells food and toiletries to her neighbors from a kiosk next to her house. "Since the national park," she said, "we have been half-dead to get something to eat because everything is restricted." [Source: Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2006 ^*^]

“Komodo is one of the poorest villages in Indonesia, a country where more than a quarter of the population lives below the official poverty line, on family income of less than $75 a month. Most of the flimsy houses appear to have been made from scrap lumber. Built on stilts, some lean precariously. Men and women lounge beneath the structures, which offer the only shade in the village. Komodo has no power lines; at night, generators provide electricity. Women fetch water from a well in jugs they balance on their heads. They cook over open fires. The only street is unpaved, but there are no cars anyway, just a couple of motorbikes. There is no sewage system, and inevitably waste ends up in the bay. Near the shore, the sea is a filthy brown. Trash floats on the surface and litters the beach. When the tide is out, dozens of fishing boats sit in mud. ^

“School here ends with sixth grade, and few families can afford to send their children for more education in Labuan Bajo, a three-hour boat ride away on Flores island. To fill their days, some children swim in the sea, others play in the dirt. A few use empty cigarette packs as toys. Chickens and goats wander through the village. Some of the men pass the time playing dominoes. As a crowd watched one recent day, four men sat in the dirt to play, using an old boogie board for a table. There is little money with which to gamble; the losers pay with their dignity, wearing a D-cell battery hanging on a string from an ear during the next match. ^

“Gone are the days when fishermen using explosives could get a ton of fish in an hour. Most fishermen agree with the ban on destructive practices but complain that the park fishing rules overall are too restrictive. They say they are lucky now to haul in 40 pounds a day using traditional nets or lines. Construction of a small hotel or guest house could give an economic boost to the community, but no outsider is likely to invest in a village where the headman demands cash from any visitor he notices entering. Some villagers make a living carving dragons of wood or shell to sell to the few tourists who visit each day. But lack of initiative and resources condemns many to a simple life of subsistence fishing. "This is a protected area, so you cannot do much," said Faisal, 53, a fisherman and father of six. ^

Resentment Over Komodo National Park by Local Villagers

Richard C. Paddock wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Many villagers resent the Nature Conservancy for its role in setting the rules. The TNC, as it is known here, is so widely disliked that it has far better name recognition in Komodo than in the United States. "People here thought the TNC had a long-term plan to raise income and the standard of living in the village," said Hermansyah Akbar, who sells wooden dragons at the park. "But so far, there has been no significant change." [Source: Richard C. Paddock, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2006 ^*^]

In 2005, “The Nature Conservancy transferred management of the park to Putri Naga Komodo, an Indonesian company. The conservancy owns 60 percent of it and most of the management staff remains the same. Villagers say they get nothing from the $20 that foreign visitors, who number about 19,000 a year, pay to enter the park. "People consider the TNC to be the enemy," said Isahaka Mansur, 55, who ekes out a living carving little dragons from shells. "They think it's weird that a foreign nongovernmental organization can be so involved in the national park while we never got any part of it." ^

“Mansur received training through the Nature Conservancy for his carving and is more positive than most about the benefits of the park. He was once shot in the leg while helping catch poachers from another island who were blowing up the reefs near Komodo. "Now we have these handicrafts," he said as he polished one of his dragons. "It is better than destroying the reefs." ^

The Nature Conservancy recognizes that many residents are critical of its role in the park but says that is to be expected given the restrictions on their activities. "You know, you cannot please everybody," conservancy spokeswoman Tri Soekirman said in Bali. "When you're doing conservation work on the ground, you will be perceived as limiting people's access." Residents will benefit in the long term with the recovery of the reef, she said, but it is taking years for them to see that the coral and fish are reviving. "The hardest thing is that you can't show the result immediately to everybody," she said. "But over the years, the reef is getting better naturally. People can see it, tourists can see it." ^

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Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Global Viewpoint (Christian Science Monitor), Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated February 2025