Tasnim Atsaniah

Komodo Island should be closed

Komodo National Park is one of tourism in Indonesia that has been well-known in the
world for its dangerous animals living there, Komodo dragon. It encompasses a cluster of
islands in East Nusa Tenggara which are Komodo Island, Padar Island, and Rinca Island. In
January 2019, the government plans to close the Komodo Island in the National Park due to
poaching done to Komodo and deer in the park. The closure brings up a lot of opinion in
society. However, the closure of Komodo Island is necessary due to some reasons such as the
concern of Komodo extinction, the revegetation and Komodo and prey breeding, and
supervisor in Komodo Island.
The closure is concerning the decline number of Komodo and its prey which can lead
to the extinction of Komodo. An attempt to smuggle 41 Komodo was disclosed by East Java
Police. Not only the Komodo was smuggled, some people also did poaching to deer which also
giving impact on declining number of prey. Komodo is a carnivore animal, and it is well-known
that they can prey on their own kind. If the number of deer keeps declining, there is possibility
for komodo to do cannibalism on their own kind. Surely it will decline the number of Komodo
dragon and can lead to the extinction of the largest lizard living in the world. The weight of
Komodo itself reach up to 150 kg and eat about 80% of its weight in a single feeding. They
have big appetite and can eat single deer without any leftovers. So, the availability of prey for
Komodo is essential to prevent them for extinction.
The closure of Komodo Island give chance for the administrator of National Park to do
Komodo and deer breeding and revegetation in Komodo Island. As stated before, the number
of Komodo and deer are declining due to the poaching. The government will have chance to
increase the number of deer, which is prey of Komodo, to keep the food of Komodo dragon
available in the land. The government can also help Komodo in breeding to protect them from
extinction. Besides focusing on animal breeding, the closure help government to do
revegetation in Komodo Island. As the most visited island by tourists in Komodo National
Park, the nature would need some break from any tourism activities. The vegetation need caring
from the administrator and revegetation is needed to replace some plants which is already dead.
The chance of supervising the poaching in Komodo Island can be done easier if the
Island is inaccessible for a year. The main reason of declining number of Komodo is poaching.
The government needs to be aware of poaching activities in the Island. It is difficult to do the
supervising because of the imbalance number of visitors and rangers. The monthly number of
visitor coming to Komodo National Park is around 10.000 visitors while the number of rangers
to monitor the park is only 130. Most of visitors in Komodo National Park is visiting Komodo
Island. By closing Komodo Island, the rangers and administrator can supervise the entire island
carefully because their focus are not split with the tourist coming to the island.
Based on those reasons, the closure of Komodo Island is necessary to do. The extinction
of Komodo because of declining number of prey needs to be concerned, since it has been
happened that number of prey is decreasing because of poaching. Besides that, some people
also smuggle Komodo to another country. It plays role on the decline number of Komodo.
Another reason is giving chance for administrator to increase the number of Komodo and deer,
as the prey of Komodo, by breeding them while the closure of Komodo Island. Furthermore,
the closure plays role to increase the supervising in the island from poaching and smuggling.