Komodo management denies dragons stressed out

The Komodo National Park has denied reports that a horde of 24,000 foreign tourists visited the island en masse, resulting in stress among its rare Komodo dragons.

“No Komodo has ever died from stress,” an administration executive at the national park, Heru Rudiharto, said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.

The park management limits the number of tourists visiting the island to 40 to 50 at one time, said Heru, who works in Labuan Bajo on Flores Island – an entry point to Komodo island.

East Nusa Tenggara Tourism, Arts and Culture Agency promotion division head Ubaldus Gogi previously said that a throng of tourists visited Komodo island in March 2010. “The komodo dragons are stressed out. One even died,” he said last week.

“The pier [at the park] has a limited capacity. No cruise ship can [come ashore] so we have to fetch tourists by speedboat. So there is no way that 10,000 tourists could all come at once,” Heru said.

“What we're doing is no mass tourism. Komodo National Park is for eco-tourism. We place high priority on the island’s habitat and ecosystem and not its tourism aspect.”