Komodo island to close because people keep stealing dragons
Animal and wildlife lovers planning to visit Indonesia's famed Komodo island to hang out with the largest lizards on Earth will have to re-think their travel plans starting in 2020.
Government officials are closing the famed island to tourists for a year, CNN reports.
During the closure, the park will roll out a conservation program aimed at increasing the dragon population and preserving their habitat.
One of the key issues the forced the closure is numerous lizard thefts.
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In March, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced it had broken up a smuggling ring that had taken 41 Komodo dragons from the island where they were sold abroad for upwards of $35,000 US, CNN reports.
Only Komodo Island will be closed to the public. The surrounding park will remain open, according to The Telegraph.
But officials plan to cap the overall number of visitors to the park to 5,000 a month after a tourist allegedly tossed a cigarette in the park last summer, starting a fire that scorched 10 hectares of land.
