| News Releases | June 3, 2002 | November 15, 2001 |
February 1, 2001 | Dec 8, 2000 | Feb 14, 2000 |

Tophosts.ca: Toronto Web Host Wants to Save the Elephants (November 15, 2001)

Paul MacKenzie recognized that working in the web hosting industry was a good fit for him in light of his background in computer hardware sales. Surprisingly however, he also found that his love of hardware could be combined with his admiration for elephants, and his desire to prevent the extermination of these magnificent animals. It's nice to have a purpose, you can make money and a difference...we're not interested in just being another Web hosting company.

The end result of this thinking was the formation of Toronto's Elehost. Founded by MacKenzie in 1998, the company has for the last 3 years helped small businesses develop a web presence, while serving as a vehicle to help protect elephants from poachers who continue to kill the animals for their valuable ivory tusks.

Elehost provides complimentary Web design and hosting services for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust - an organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of Africa's endangered species. The hosting provider also maintains an Elephant Information Repository portal to educate and provide information about the animal.

"If you ever watch elephants closely you'll become aware of how intelligent they are. This and their awareness of their surroundings peaked my interest," MacKenzie said.

"We are all trained to think we can't make a difference, it's all about making money but it's nice to have a purpose, you can make money and a difference...we're not interested in just being another web hosting company."

When MacKenzie isn't busy building the company's customer base, or improving their listing on directories or search engines, he spends his time maintaining the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Web site and working with the Foster an Elephant On-Line Program. To date, more than 30 elephants have been saved by donations made through the program from visitors worldwide.

"Simply not buying ivory or the trinkets or souvenirs that are made from it, is a simple way to help," said MacKenzie, referring in particular to the widespread use of "Hanko," - small-carved signature seals that are used to validate cheques and other documents - that are a common ivory product used in Japan and other East Asian countries.

While reliable statistics as to how many elephants are poached annually are hard to come by, Dr. Teresa Telecky, Acting Executive Director of the Species Survival Network, and part of the Humane Society of the United States believes that "every hour of every day an elephant [is] being killed for its ivory." Despite bans of the ivory trade in most nations, the African elephant population has declined steeply - from an estimated 1.3 million in 1979 to about 400,000 in 1999.

| News Releases | June 3, 2002 | November 15, 2001 |
February 1, 2001 | Dec 8, 2000 | Feb 14, 2000 |