LETTER : Arctic tramp

I ASSUME Nicolas Vanier embarked on his expedition through the Yukon for reasons largely of benefit to himself and his publishers ("Toddling around the Arctic", Review, 12 November).

How, then, can he justify removing himself and his family from their natural socio-economic environment to deliberately impinge upon the life system of a wilderness in which they merely play a transient role? Especially when this involvement includes the slaughter of the region's endemic bears, elk and caribou.

It seems Vanier has scant respect for sub-Arctic biodiversity and should consider the fact that North America has long been a discovered continent.

P Lindsay

Preston, Lancashire