IF C Roberts (Letters, March 6) is really concerned about waterfowl, I suggest he stops fishing. Wildlife rescue centres around the country would tell him that the vast majority of injuries and deaths to waterfowl are caused by tackle. To give an idea of the scale of the problem, one rescue centre dealt with 702 birds and animals injured by tackle in one year alone.

This has nothing to do with people feeding the ducks and it is not just careless anglers who cause this problem. All of them do. The nylon line that anglers use frequently breaks when hooks become snagged on underwater obstructions or bankside vegetation. Swans and ducks are especially vulnerable. They pick up hooks, line and weights while feeding and slowly starve to death. Their feet can also get caught in tangled line, which they cannot escape from and limbs and wings can become severed. Other birds and animals also fall victim to fishing tackle.

Why not find yourself a better hobby, C Roberts. Go rambling, bird watching, join a conservation group or better still a wildlife rescue centre, with so many animals injured through angling they need all the help they can get.

(Mrs) M HARRISON

(Swindon Animal Concern)

Beaulieu Close

Toothill, Swindon