The Chernobyl exclusion zone is now one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in Europe
From SpaceDaily.com:
The gray wolf population inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has undergone a dramatic resurgence over the four decades following the nuclear catastrophe. According to researchers tracking the area, wolf populations are seven times higher than they were before the accident because there is less human pressure.
This accidental sanctuary highlights a stark, counterintuitive reality: the complete removal of modern human industrial activity has allowed apex predators and large mammals to flourish in a landscape once defined entirely by ruin.
