Their feet can also get caught in tangled line, and limbs and wings can be severed. One rescue group based in Northampton dealt with 692 birds and animals injured by tackle during 1996. Swans are still dying of lead poisoning. In Essex, a pair of swans produced 7 cygnets, but 6 of them died after swallowing hooks which they thought were flies due to their decoration. Dogs have died from swallowing fish hooks.
Anglers use huge quantities of groundbait to attract fish to fishing areas.
Uneaten groundbait rots, causing pollution. Maggots are a common bait and some are contaminated with botulism and Salmonella, which are responsible for an increasing number of fatalities amongst wildfowl. Some killing of birds is intentional. Anglers argue that cormorants eat too many fish and that they should be shot. Anglers believe that the fun they have angling is more important than the cormorants' right to live.