Actress Kristin Davis has urged her fans to shun ivory, insisting ruthless dealers are exploiting a loophole in the law to sell the banned substance as antiques.

The Sex and the City star adopted an abandoned baby elephant during a visit to Africa in 2009 and launched a crusade to save the endangered species, for which she was handed the Humane Society's 2010 Wyler Award.

Now Davis is stepping up her campaign by highlighting the illegal trade in ivory and calling on the public to beware of tricks used by black market salesmen.

She tells U.K. TV show This Morning, "Number one: Never, ever, ever buy ivory. Because what they are doing is they are saying that it's antique. They are claiming that it's antique so you will go to some beautiful shop and they will say, 'Here's an antique ivory chest from 1912', and you think, 'Ok, how beautiful, I can buy that'. No, no, no - they are faking it. They have taken it and rubbed it to make it look like it's old. So people are unwillingly supporting this illegal black market sale of illegal ivory. Never buy ivory."