One in eight of the world’s bird species are threatened with extinction, a new study claims, including well-known animals like the snowy owl and puffin.

In recent decades the populations of a number of species have declined by 90 per cent or more, according to BirdLife International’s State of the World’s Birds report, an analysis of five years-worth of data.

Yellow-breasted buntings and several types of vulture have been particularly hard-hit, the organisation said.

In all, 13 per cent of species globally – 1,469 of 10,996 – are described as either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“The threats driving the avian extinction crisis are many and varied, but invariably of humanity’s making,” said Tris Allinson, BirdLife’s senior science officer. She added: “The data are unequivocal. We are undergoing a steady and continuing deterioration in the status of the world’s birds.”

Three-quarters of threatened species have been hit by the expansion of agriculture, the report said, due to land clearance and deforestation required for new fields which is occurring most rapidly in the tropics.

Neonicotinoid pesticides “clearly pose a serious risk to migratory seed-eating birds”, researchers said, adding that “there is also concern that they may build up along food chains and be retained by soils and plants for many years”.

Logging, invasive species and hunting for food or sport were also blamed for the declines, while climate change could be “the most serious threat of all” in the long term, the authors said.

Where not to visit if you love animals Show all 9 1 /9 Where not to visit if you love animals Where not to visit if you love animals Monkey shows Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Marine parks Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Tiger shows Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them “safe” for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Donkey rides Sunning on the beach is great for humans – we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Swimming with dolphins Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Canned hunting Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Running of the Bulls Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Horse-drawn carriages City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Zoos The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further. EPA

In the case of the critically-endangered yellow-breasted bunting, researchers said it was previously one of the most widespread and numerous species in Eurasia. Since 1980, however, its population has plummeted by 90 per cent and its range is much smaller.

The report said: “Although now officially banned, large-scale hunting of this Chinese delicacy continues. In 2001, an estimated one million buntings, known colloquially as ‘the rice bird’, were consumed in China’s Guangdong province alone.”

The document also highlighted the disappearance of vultures from large parts of the African continent, with numbers in seven species falling by between 80 and 97 per cent in the last 30 years.

Many of the birds are killed when they eat animal carcasses poisoned by poachers, who fear they will draw attention to their activity, the authors wrote.