According to recent analysis, the number of animals on planet Earth has halved.

Creatures have been vanishing because of our constant and ever increasing demands.

Forests are felled, dams constructed and land cleared of natural vegetation and in the process, habitats of various species of birds, animals and fish are destroyed.

The Living Planet report calculating humanity?s ?ecological footprint?, states that deforestation occurs at faster rates than trees are replenished, fish are caught faster than oceans can be refilled, water is pumped from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them and emitting more carbon-dioxide than oceans and forests can absorb.

The population of a number of animals had dropped since 1970 by 40 percent.

Listed below, are a few species where fast declines have been noted:

1)      African Lion:In Ghana?s Mole      National Park, the population of  African Lions has fallen   due to killing of lions by local people, who view them as a threat.

2)      Albatross: Due to birds getting snared by long line fisheries, albatross populations have dropped rapidly in the South Atlantic oceans.

3)      Common farmland birds: In the UK, mainly due to intensification of farming,between 1970 and 2012 farmland birds like the grey partridge have fallen by 50 percent .   

4)      Dolphin: Since the 1960?s, the short beaked dolphin has been in decline in the Mediterranean Sea. Numbers in the Ionian Sea fell from 150 to 15.

5)      Leatherback Turtle: Between 1989 and 2002, the population of the Leatherback turtles in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans experienced a decline.