YOUNG Kinver chocolatier Louis Barnett is continuing his campaign to save endangered animals.

The 17-year-old - who has enjoyed a whirlwind year since his Chokolit-in-a-box hit supermarket shelves - launched his Biting Back Bar earlier this year, which sees 10p from each chocolate bar going towards helping under-threat Orang-utans.

The bar, manufactured at Louis’ chocolate factory in Bridgnorth, is a premium dark chocolate bar with a hint of orange, with 5p of the profits going to the Sumatran Orangutan Society and 5p going to Chester Zoo’s Bornean Orang-utan Conservation Programme.

Louis decided to make the charity bar to help save the under-threat orangutan which due to poaching and vast production of palm oil which is taking away its habitat - is fast on the way to becoming extinct.

A spokesman for the Sumatran Orangutan Society said: "The Biting Back bar is a great way to raise awareness about the plight of the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, as it does not contain palm oil, unlike many large chocolate brands.

“Palm oil plantations are responsible for the large-scale devastation of the orangutans' habitat.

“The money that Louis is raising will be used to plant trees and restore damaged areas of forest in Sumatra - a fantastic contribution to the conservation of the orangutan."

And not one to rest on his laurels, Louis has now launched a further two bars - a white Chokolit bar with a hint of lemon to help raise awareness of the plight of tigers; and a milk Chokolit crunch bar to help the endangered Amur leopard.

Money raised from the white bar will go to Tiger Awareness, which donates money to help villagers by buying walkie talkies and paying for cattle to replace those eaten by tigers.

And 10p from each milk choc bar will go to ZSL’s Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) charity.

All three bars are now on the shelves at 250 Sainsbury’s stores - and Louis hopes they will be in all of the supermarket giant’s stores by the end of January.

Louis said: “Through my Biting Back Bar Campaign I want to help convey the message that we all have to help make a difference.

“In this current economic climate people are understandably reluctant to donate money to charities. However, many people buy chocolate every day, so all I am suggesting is that instead of buying just any brand of chocolate - why not buy a Biting Back Bar and we will make the donation.”

Sainsbury’s have already sold 40,000 of the bars, raising around £4,000, and Louis and his parents Phil and Mary have already handed over £1,340 to Tiger Awareness; and they hope to dish out the rest of the money to the other charities in the coming weeks.

The compassionate teenager - who started his company at just 15 after quitting school due to problems with dyslexia - is also hoping to launch another bar at the end of January to help promote a campaign by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation to save the black Rhino.

And the National Geographic Society has also taken an interest in Louis’ campaign; and he has been asked to make a further three bars to support its Big Cat Initiative and The Great Plains campaign.

Louis added: “I have received fantastic support from major conservation groups. It’s hugely exciting, working with such great people who share the same vision. It’s hard to believe all this started with making chocolates on mum’s kitchen table.”

Meanwhile Louis’ handmade chocolates are now available in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Selfridges. He’s also started exporting to Sweden and he hopes his environmentally-friendly confectionary may soon be distributed all over Europe, and to the USA, Canada and Japan.

Louis’ chocs have also been munched on by world leaders Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French president Nicholas Sarkozy.

So it appears the determined youngster’s quest to become the best chocolatier in the land has become a reality a lot sooner than he ever expected.

To find out more about Louis’ chocolates and environmental campaigns go to www.chokolit.co.uk