The government has stepped in to establish three special Reserves for elephants in the Hambantota, Anuradhapura and Puttalam districts following the heavy toll of 179 pachyderms and 50 villagers the elephant-human conflict claimed in 2007.

The three proposed Reserves, spanning 2000 hectares each, will be complete with electric fencing to ensure that the pachyderms, mostly rogue elephants, which had marauded villages, are confined to the demarcated territory to avert further destruction, top wild life sources said.

Director General of Wild Life Ananda Wijesuriya was overseas last week, but the Director in charge operations, H. D. Ratnayake explained that the elephant-human conflict was not directly responsible for the death of all 179 elephants reported in 2007.

He said that 2000 hectares each had been identified at Lunugamvehera, Ritigala and Tabbowa for electric fencing for the Reserves.

Marauding rouge elephants will be tranquilized and moved to Elephant Rehabilitation Centres within the Reserves, where they will be monitored for a certain period before being released back into the wild, he said.

Ratnayake said that a batch of eight orphaned elephants which had been bred at the Ath Athuru Sevana at Uda Walawe over the past five years was released into a sanctuary last week.

He said that while Wilpattu sanctuary still remain out of bounds to visitors for security reasons, the wild life department has re-opened the Uda Walawe sanctuary for visitors to stay overnight at the bungalow from June 1.

With the ongoing development of national sanctuaries, it has been decided that only Safari Jeeps that matched the required standards would be registered for entry into the parks in the future