Sri Lankan Animal Sanctuary

The Sri Lankan government has announced plans to turn what was once a Tamil Tigers rebel stronghold into a wildlife sanctuary, The Guardian reports. The area is about 100,000 acres in northern Mullativu, and was formerly controlled by the Tamil Tigers in the country’s 25 yearlong civil war. It was here that heavy fighting took place up until last year, and since the end of the war, there have been no formal plans for the land, which is mostly jungle. A wildlife department official of Sri Lanka says that soon the area will be devoted to wildlife, including the endangered elephant—only approximately 3,000 of which remain in Sri Lanka.