Can someone help me with an essay please? Picture this. Roaming an island, there are giant10-foot lizards that attack animals as big as buffalo. Does this sound like a movie? Actually, a picture of this giant lizard—the Komodo dragon—inspired the maker of the movie Godzilla to create the story of a giant-sized lizard gone wild. Although Komodo dragons are not as big as Godzilla, they are fascinating, yet dangerous, animals.

Komodo dragons live on the Komodo Island in Indonesia. The Komodo National Park is named after these amazing animals. Visitors can roam the park and hike along trails to look at these amazing animals. They take pictures and videos of these creatures to share with friends back home. The lizards, however, have a dark side. “These animals are not what they seem to visitors,” says Milani, who lives in the village of Kampung Komodo on Komodo Island. Milani explains that last year, one of her friends, a 9-year-old boy, was attacked and killed by a Komodo dragon. “The Komodo bit him and then smashed him against the rocks. There was nothing we could do.” This is not the first time a Komodo has attacked a human. Last year, a 39-year-old villager was attacked after the dragon found its way into the man’s home while he was sleeping.

The villagers are used to living with these dragons, but are very cautious of them. Even at school they are on the lookout for these lizards. Sometimes, Komodos find their way into students’ classrooms by crawling under the walls. All the students are sent home for the day while authorities remove the animal. "People are scared because, every day, the dragons come down and eat our goats," complains Ibrahim Hamso, secretary of the Kampung Rinca village. "Today it's a goat, and tomorrow it can be our child."

“Attacks are more frequent since 1995,” says one villager. In this year, the Nature Conservancy was asked to create a national park to protect the Komodo dragons from extinction. To protect the Komodo dragon from extinction in Indonesia, they put new laws into place. These laws may have brought about increased dangerous behaviors from the lizards.

One law they enacted was to ban all non-native animals from the island. This ban included the most popular pet—the dog. The dogs used to discourage Komodo dragons from entering the villages. Now, without the dog to deter them, it is easier for the Komodo dragons to invade their village. The villagers live in houses on stilts to protect them from the dragons, but dragons will hide under the stilt houses to snatch the villagers’ goats or chickens.

Another law the Nature Conservancy enacted was to prohibit villagers from feeding the dragons on the outskirts of the village. The villagers feel that when they fed the dragons in the past, the dragons did not come into the village to hunt for food. "For us, giving food to the dragons is an obligation, our sacred duty," says Hajji Adam, headman of the park's village. In contrast, the officials at the Nature Conservancy feel that this law benefits the dragons. "We don't want the Komodo dragon to be domesticated. It's against natural balance," says Widodo Ramono, policy director of the Nature Conservancy.

Is the conservancy addressing the villagers’ concerns? “Any concern expressed by the villagers will be taken seriously and we will address it if we can," says Chief Communications Officer James R. Petterson. In spite of this comment by an officer of the Nature Conservancy, the villagers do not feel that their fears are being taken seriously. They villagers have repeatedly asked for a dragon-proof fence to be built around the village. These fences cost only $5,000 each. The company has not built this protective fence.

Although the villagers are concerned, they are used to living with the Komodo dragons. The lizards "live here and we have our families, so we must share," says the villager Kadir. "The dragons are our friends." The Nature Conservancy is trying to protect the safety of the Komodo dragon. They should not ignore the continuing concerns of the villagers of the island of Komodo.