I WISH to reply to the letter from Greg Whittaker (Advertiser, August 10) in which he claimed animal rights campaigners have misconceptions about angling.

He also said I am either extremely ignorant or that I knowingly spread falsehoods about his ''sport''.

The fact is Mr Whittaker, like all fishermen, doesn't want to accept the truth - that all hooked fish experience pain and many of them die due to stress and injuries caused merely for human entertainment.

Their ability to feel pain is equal to cats, dogs and other animals and a hook through the mouth causes a serious injury that is often fatal.

In addition to the wounds caused by the hook, fish released after being caught can suffer from loss of their protective scale coating, dangerous build-up of lactic acid in their muscles, oxygen depletion and damage to their delicate fins.

Research has shown that up to 43 per cent of released fish die from their injuries within six days.

Catching fish is cruel and unnecessary, whether they are killed on the spot or released back into the water, injured and exhausted.

Fish are not the only innocent victims of angling. No matter how much care a fisherman takes not to litter the water with his tackle, hooks and line will inevitably snag on underwater vegetation and consequently break.

Line becomes tangled round the legs and wings of birds and mammals, often resulting in the loss of limbs.

Waterfowl suffer lacerated beaks and throats by swallowing hooks and slowly starve to death.

These are not misconceptions or falsehoods, just plain hard facts which should lead fishing down the same path as bear baiting, dog fighting and fox hunting.

CLARE EVANS

Redditch Animal Rights

Exhall Close

Church Hill South