Elephant Wildlife Conservation in History - A Remarkable Tale

It is common knowledge that, throughout history, there have been some harrowing and tragic accounts of nonsensical hunting of endangered animal species, some even to extinction. It is, with this in mind, a breath of fresh air when we hear a rare success story that derives from an initial tragedy.

The History

Historical accounts from the early European settlers in Southern Africa's Eastern Cape, depicted the area as one of the richest wildlife areas in the whole of Africa. Their accounts tell of vast, grazing herds of Elephant and Buffalo dominating the plains and large cats such as Lion leopard and cheetah roaming free.

Due to the conflict and dangers imposed to the farming and agriculture of the early settlers these amazing animals were hunted and eradicated from the area. By 1856 the last wild lion was killed and by 1919 the last of the mighty Cape Buffalo was also shot, the once vast herds completely destroyed. It was at this time that a legendary hunter, Major Pretorius, was invited by the Administrator of the Cape to hunt down and eradicate the remaining elephant herds that still remained. By 1931 the hunting had been so severe that only 11 elephant remained in the Addo area, around 60km from the Indian Ocean. The original section of Addo Elephant National park was founded in this year in order to provide sanction for these last remaining 11 elephant and protect them from hunting, the original park was partly due to the wildlife conservation efforts of Sydney Skaife a South African entomologist and naturalist.

The Success

The original wildlife conservation area of Addo was just over 5,000 acres in size, and with no adequate fence line around the park the conflicts between elephant and farmers continued up until 1954. It was the park manager at this time, Graham Armstrong, who introduced a revolutionary elephant proof fence, made of tram rails, which successfully contained the 22 resident elephants at the park.

The reserve today covers a vast 444,700 acres of wildlife conservation area. The ecosystem has been finely tuned and is now sanctuary to number of wildlife species including lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and many more. The elephant population now stands at over 550, which is an amazing achievement in wildlife conservation and is one of the rare success stories that rose from early devastation.

Future plans for the park include proclamation of a 296,500 acre coastal marine wildlife conservation area.introduced a revolutionary elephant proof fence, made of tram rails, which successfully contained the 22 resident elephants at the park.

The reserve today covers a vast 444,700 acres of wildlife conservation area. The ecosystem has been finely tuned and is now sanctuary to number of wildlife species including lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and many more. The elephant population now stands at over 550, which is an amazing achievement in wildlife conservation and is one of the rare success story that rose from the early devastation.

Future plans for the park include proclamation of a 296,500 acre coastal marine wildlife conservation area.

Nick Christie is the Managing Director of Gap Africa Projects, an online tour operator offering experiences in wildlife conservation ( http://www.gapafricaprojects.com/Volunteer-Gap-Year-Projects/Gap-Year-Adventures/Conservation-Programs-Work-with-Animals.htm )

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Material Handling Industry History

Materials Handling Industry has matured as never before. Ever since the industrial revolution started, goods needed to be transported at a larger scale. These transports and movement of goods and materials have become the material handling industry, a mature industry which has anchored in all corners of the globe and has

The Industry Definition
By definition, this optimization business is the movement, protection, control and storage of goods before, during and after the production or manufacturing process. But also includes the handling of goods during distribution to end consumers and even during the consumption and the disposal part of the end product. Every little handling falls within the handling industry.

The logistics industry highly relies on the material handling industry and in many ways is intertwined with this industry as well. The tow industries go hand in hand in order to let the supply chain process go as fluently as possible.

A Little Industrial History
This management business has been around ever since humans have been trading goods. Once trading and manufacturing started to happen at a larger scale more efficient systems needed to be developed and brought into place. Equipment and optimization are constantly evolving to facilitate the demand of goods.

The industrial revolution was sparked of in Great Britain in the early 18th century when the first commercially viable steam engines entered the manufacturing, mining, agricultural and transport processes. These inventions and contraptions were shipped all over the world to increase production volumes and the industrialization of the world became a fact. The material handling industry developed along side.

In principle we are still in the middle of the industrial revolution, as we keep progressing forward. Steam engines were only the spark that flamed the technological process. But the introduction of the combustion engine, electricity, electronics, the microchip and now nano technology all are part of an ongoing industrial revolutionary process. And all along this industry has grown, developed and progressed as well.

Material Handling Industry of America
Companies in the material handling industry have united in the MHIA in the United States. The MHIA is one of the largest organizations in the world representing the material handling industry. Not strange as the United States is the largest economy in the world. The MHIA is a non-profit trade organization helping its members to perform more efficiently on the world platform.

This commercial enterprise is an exciting industry as a whole as it keeps progressing and filtering in the processes needed to optimize the movement, protection, control and storage of goods. The consumption of material handling and logistics equipment and systems in America exceeds $156 billion per year, and producers employ in excess of 700,000 workers.

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How Will History Judge President George W. Bush? - ABC News

In an interview timed to the release of his new memoir "Decision Points," former President George W. Bush reflected on some of the key moments in his presidency and defended his most controversial decisions.

Bush acknowledged some failures during his eight years in the White House, including mistakes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"I should have touched down in Baton Rouge, met with the governor and walked out and said, 'I hear you. We understand and we're going to help the state and help the local governments with as much resources as needed," Bush said in an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer that aired Monday night.

Bush says that he wrote his new memoir as a record for historians, but he declined to say how his time in office may be judged.

"I hope I'm judged a success, but I'm going to be dead, Matt, when they finally figure it out," Bush said.

Bush's approval rating dipped to a low of 23 percent in Oct. 2008, and as he prepared to leave office, 58 percent of Americans said he would go down in history as a below-average president. His approval rating also briefly reached an all time high of 92 percent following 9/11.

Our question to you today: How will history judge President George W. Bush?

Click here to return to the "World News" page.

ABC's Michael Falcone and Gary Langer contributed to this report.

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