The global loss of various types of animals is even worse than previously thought.
The Zoological Society of London or ZSL reported this week that animal populations have deteriorated over the past 40 years by half of what they used to be. Populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have all declined by an average of 52 percent and freshwater animals have suffered an even worse fall of 76 percent.
The study says it's clear that human activity like cutting down trees more quickly than they can re-grow, harvesting more fish than the oceans can re-stock, and pumping water from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them is what's continuing the wildlife to be driven out.