BFF-20 Earth’s wild animal population plummets 60 percent in 44 years: WWF

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Earth’s wild animal population plummets 60 percent in 44 years: WWF

PARIS, Oct 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – “Runaway consumption” has decimated global
wildlife, triggered a mass extinction and exhausted Earth’s capacity to
accommodate humanity’s expanding appetites, the global conservation group WWF
warned Tuesday.

From 1970 to 2014, 60 percent of all animals with a backbone — fish,
birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals — were wiped out by human appetites
and activity, according WWF’s “Living Planet” report, based on a survey of
more than 4,000 species spread over 16,700 populations scattered across the
globe.

“The situation is really bad, and it keeps getting worse,” WWF
International Director General Marco Lambertini told AFP. “The only good news
is that we know exactly what is happening.”

BSS/AFP/MSY/1021 hrs