Approximately 30,000 species per year — about three per hour — are being driven to extinction.
– Harvard University
Approximately 80 percent of the decline in global biological diversity is caused by habitat destruction.
– African Conservancy
Wildlife habitat in the world is being destroyed at a rate of approximately 5,760 acres per day or 240 acres per hour.
– African Conservancy
Four percent of the mammals living in the world at present are wild animals. Thirty-six percent are human beings and 60 percent are farm animals.
– United States National Academy of Sciences
Illegal wildlife trafficking throughout the world brings in approximately US $20 billion per year.
– United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world. One is taken from the wild by poachers once every five minutes.
– International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
An average of 96 elephants are killed for their ivory in Africa each day.
– Wildlife Conservation Society
More African elephants are being killed for ivory than are being born.
– Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Approximately 60 percent of elephant deaths are at the hands of poachers.
– Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Three rhinoceroses are killed by poachers on an average day.
– One Green Planet
There were once dozens of rhinoceros species. Now only five remain.
– International Rhino Foundation
Africa’s lion population has decreased in size by approximately 42 percent during the past two decades.
– African Wildlife Foundation
A century ago wild dog packs in Africa typically consisted of approximately 100 members. Now the average pack size is 10.
– American Museum of Natural History
Every year poachers take more than 38 million animals from the wilds of Brazil to meet the global demand for illegal wildlife. Most are birds destined to become caged pets for people in Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Madrid or New York.
– National Geographic
Biodiversity in Latin America has decreased by approximately 83 percent since the 1970s.
– Defenders of Wildlife
More than one million seals have been killed in the annual seal hunts in Canada during the last five years. Harp seals are the primary targets of the hunters. Approximately 97 percent of the harp seals killed are pups less than three months old.
– Humane Society of the United States
Approximately 85 percent of the fisheries around the world that are fished commercially are at their absolute maximum or already overfished.
– United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization
People kill more than 100 million sharks throughout the world each year — often illegally to make shark-fin soup.
– World Wildlife Fund
More than 650,000 marine mammals are killed or seriously injured every year throughout the world as a result of accidental entanglement or capture in fishing gear. In many cases the gear is fishing line that has simply been abandoned.
– Endangered Species Coalition
More than 100 million animals are reported killed by hunters in the United States each year. That number does not include the millions of animals for which kill figures are not maintained by state wildlife agencies.
– Delaware Action for Animals
Every year in the United States more than 4,000 tons of lead are shot into the environment by hunters. This results in the poisoning deaths of approximately 20 million animals.
– Cooper Ornithological Society
More than 126,000 hunting trophies are imported into the United States each year.
– Humane Society of the United States
There are more than 1,000 captive animal hunting operations in the United States.
– Humane Society of the United States
Thousands of individuals are arrested for poaching in the United States each year. However, experts believe that only between one and five percent of poachers are caught.
– Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust
Approximately 180,000 pounds of bushmeat is smuggled into the United States undetected each year.
– Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
Approximately one in 20 motor vehicle collisions reported in the United States involves an animal.
– United States Department of Transportation
There are more than 1.5 million collisions between vehicles and deer each year in the United States.
– American Automobile Association
Approximately one billion birds die annually after colliding with glass in the United States.
– American Bird Conservancy
More than 11,000 collisions between aircraft and wildlife — mostly birds — took place in the United States last year.
– Federal Aviation Administration
Approximately 6,000 tigers are currently being kept as pets in the United States. The number is greater than the number of tigers in the wild throughout the world.
– Born Free
