COULD I please, through your newspaper, urge anyone travelling abroad to those countries which offer for sale souvenirs made from ivory, turtle shell or reptile skin to avoid purchasing such items at all costs (no pun intended!), as such purchases are giving rise to the extinction of the animals supplying them.

Hundreds of thousands of elephants, for example, have been slaughtered over the years to supply the illegal ivory trade, wiping out entire populations of these magnificent intelligent animals and leaving countless baby elephants as orphans.

Mrs LM Murphy, Station Road, Healing.