A WARNING FOR WILDLIFE

Wildlife is in decline across the world. Marion McMullen looks at the animals at risk

1 THE World Wildlife Fund is calling for a “global deal” to protect the natural world following reports that global wildlife populations have fallen by 60% since 1970. From hedgehogs and puffins to elephants, rhinos and polar bears, wildlife is in decline due to the loss of habitats, poaching, pollution and rising global temperatures, the Living Planet report warns. 2 IN the UK, hedgehog populations declined by three quarters in urban areas between 2002 and 2014. The fall in numbers is thought to be due to a number of factors including loss of their natural habitat, pesticides and death from cars and vehicles. 3 MORE than 1000,000 Bornean orangutans are estimated to have been lost between 1999 and 2015, largely due to the loss of their forest home for timber and palm oil plantations as well as illegal hunting.

4 PUFFIN numbers in Europe, which is home to 90% of the global population of the seabirds, is projected to fall by up 79% by 2065 in the face of climate change and overfishing. Populations of the wandering albatross have already seen rapid declines as the birds have become accidentally caught in long-line fisheries. The British Antarctic Survey says the population on Bird Island in South Georgia has halved between 1972 and 2010. 5 THE African grey parrot populations in south-west Ghana have almost been wiped out. Numbers decreased by 98% between 1992 and 2014 due to exploitation and damage to their natural habitat. 6 THE white shark population in the Indo-Pacific is estimated to have fallen 63% over the last 75 years and by more than 30% in the Atlantic. Species which live in fresh water habitats, such as frogs and river fish, have seen global populations fall by 83%, according to the living planet index by the Zoological Society Of London which tracks the abundance of wildlife. 7 OVERALL populations of more than 4,000 species of mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians have declined by an average of 60%. Only a quarter of the world’s land area is free from the impacts of human activity and it is reckoned by 2050 that will have fallen to just a tenth. 8 POPULATIONS of black and white rhinos are down by an average of 63% with the illegal wildlife trade for their horns the biggest threat facing the animals. Polar bear numbers are projected to decline by 30% by 2050 as climate change melts the Arctic ice and reduces their ability to hunt, find mates and rear their young. 9 THE percentage of the world’s seabirds with plastic in their stomachs is estimated to have increased from 5% in 1960 to 90% today and half of the world’s shallow water corals have been lost in just 30 years.

10 TV presenter and WWF Uk ambassador Ben Fogle says: “I don’t want to see my children growing up to learn about tigers, rhinos and even hedgehogs through history books and museums. I want them to see our world’s diverse and wonderful wildlife with their own eyes.”