How is wildlife in Canada doing? To answer this crucial question, WWF-Canada periodically releases the Living Planet Report Canada (LPRC), a series of scientific studies providing different snapshots of how species populations are changing over time.

And this year’s edition presents the sharpest, and starkest, picture of wildlife loss in Canada yet.

Snowy-owl-Churchill-©-WWF-US/Elisabeth-Kruger With more data than ever before — 5,099 population records for 910 species, accounting for more than half the total number of vertebrates in the country — LPRC 2025reveals the size of monitored wildlife populations in Canada has fallen 10 per cent, on average, from 1970 to 2022.

This is the steepest decline since WWF-Canada began reporting nearly two decades ago.

And it doesn’t get better as you dig deeper — 475 of those 910 species, or 52 per cent, are decreasing in abundance and every species group (birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles and amphibians) experienced declining population trends, on average.

Read more: Here’s how wildlife populations are trending in Canadian habitats

Black-tailed prairie dog © Conservation Media WWF-US Wildlife populations in grasslands, one of the country’s most threatened habitats, have declined 62 per cent, on average, since 1970 while mammal populations in forests fell 42 per cent.

Species of global conservation concern found in Canada — those on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — saw population sizes drop 43 per cent, on average, indicating that domestic wildlife loss could be contributing to global extinction risks.

While some species (sea otters, raptors) are increasing, others (bats, salmon), are faring far worse so the widespread losses across species groups and habitats are outweighing any gains.

We are watching the real-time decline of wildlife in Canada

In Canada, the story of wildlife is a story of decline. Since 1970, species populations have been on a persistent downward trajectory, a statistic made even more somber by the fact that this start date was hardly a high point for Canadian biodiversity with some species reaching historic lows before the study’s benchmark.

This trend includes species in decline for decades, such as the burrowing owl, but it also continues to add new species experiencing more recent declines, like the snowy owl, which was just assessed as threatened last May.

Little brown bat in Salmonier, Newfoundland, Canada. © Sherri and Brock Fenton WWF-Canada These small and gradual species declines not only build over time, but as populations shrink, they also become more vulnerable to threats. So the longer we take to respond, the harder these declines will be to halt and reverse.

Nature’s warning light

The trends from the Living Planet Report Canada 2025 are nature’s warning light, a way of letting us know that Canada’s diverse wildlife — and the wide array of habitats they rely on — are struggling. But the point of a warning light is to provide a head’s up before it’s too late, while we still have a chance to turns things around.

And we know it’s possible. The LPRC also includes species, such as waterfowl and peregrine falcons, that are increasing thanks to focused conservation action, offering hope that with concerted effort we can still halt and reverse wildlife loss across the country.

I invite you to explore the findings of the LPRC 2025 and solutions for recovery. Though nature in Canada is declining, it is not beyond saving.