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ood news has come from the privately owned Taman Safari Indonesia zoo in Cisarua, Bogor, West Java, following the hatching of 11 Komodo dragons, raising hope for the protected animals.

The birth of the Komodo dragons late on Thursday sparked hope as the population of the animals, which are only found in Indonesia, continues to decline, especially the females.

“The number of female dragons is lower than the male ones in nature, with a three-to-one ratio between male and female,” Djati Witjaksono, a spokesman for the Environment and Forestry Ministry, told The Jakarta Post.

The population of the giant lizards in Komodo National Park in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, has experienced a decline according to data from the park management that revealed that there were 3,013 as of last year. The number of the giant lizards, which are protected under a 1990 law on natural resources and ecosystem conservation, fell from 3,222 in 2013 and 3,092 in 2014.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had listed the dragons as vulnerable on its red list of threatened species.

The park management linked the declining numbers to human activity and the lessening availability of the dragon’s prey, such as the deer that are also becoming scarce.

Meanwhile, environmental activists have pointed their fingers at tourism, especially cruise ships, as a disruptive presence for the animals. Komodo Island, on which the national park is located, has grown more popular in recent years following a major promotion of its scenic beauty and the unique grand animal that had also attracted tourists.

As many as 113 ships from overseas, including cruise ships, visited Komodo Island throughout last year. The local administration also recorded 53,562 tourists to Loh Liang, the main tourist area of the national park.

Besides the 11 newly hatched dragons, 10 more eggs are reportedly due to hatch at Taman Safari Indonesia.

The hatching of the dragons is attributed to the success of the government’s off-site conservation program, also called ex situ conservation methods.

“The program was doubted, but now it has been proven to successfully breed elephants, wallabies, anoa and tigers. In some conservation institutions, they also breed orangutan — not to mention the success of breeding Bali Starlings by local people and conservation agencies,” Bambang Dahono Adji, the director of the biodiversity division of the ministry, told the Post.

Ex situ conservation is the process of protecting an endangered species, variety, or breed of plant or animal outside of its natural habitat; for example, by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, which may be a wild area or within the care of humans.

Besides the off-site conservation program, the government has also prevented the issuance of building permits in the Komodo National Park to preserve the exclusive habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard species on earth.