Lunatic Magazine June cover story

The June Issue of Lunatic Magazine brings us back to the dangerous animal job roots. The Cobras and crocodile handlers that appeared on the first two covers are followed up here in June by the Komodo National Park hiking guides.  Komodo National Park is, of course, home to the famous Komodo dragons.  They are big.  A single mature Komodo Dragon would hang over the ends of most anyone's dining room table (even with both leaves in).  The dragons are land hunting members of the monitor family and have bacteria in their saliva that has evolved to make the wounds they inflict become infected.  They eat full grown hogs and Sambar Deer (Asia's answer to the elk).

Hiring a guide for walking in the park is mandatory and costs eight dollars for groups of 10 or less.  Guides usually get to work with two groups a day and make sure that the dragons do not get too close to the tourists and visa versa.  To keep the dragons in check, the guides all get an eight foot long forked stick and a shirt that identifies them as guides.

We noticed that no guide was older than 26.  Trin, our guide, was proud to be one of the more experienced dragon handlers.  He had been employed at the park for all of a year and a half.  As we started the tour, Trin explained to us that adult dragons can't climb trees.  At first we thought that this was the first of the many interesting dragon facts that we were going to hear as part of our tour.  Trin was not so much entertaining with that fact as he was advising.  He followed up the interesting fact with, "so if dragon runs at you, try to climb tree.  Stick can not stop dragon."

We asked Trin how many attacks happened per year.  Turns out only 10 tourists were bit so far this year.  The guides are the ones who get bit most.  His poor friend was in the hospital for 2 months with 40 stitches.  Trin was glad that his wounds had finally closed.  Apparently, when the dragons start biting, they just take indiscriminate mouthfuls out of what ever prey they have captured.

Because there are not many jobs for the guys on Komodo who are just starting out, a bunch of the young fellas start working as dragon guides.  That is, just until something better comes along.

Because it is worse than cobra handling and crocodile cage cleaning, Trin and  his fellow Komodo dragon guides, get the cover of Lunatic magazine for June.