The distribution of many animals in Canada has shrivelled. Some wildlife species have even vanished entirely from a province or the whole country.

Thirty mammals, birds, reptiles and fish that used to live in Canada no longer do. Biologists suspect that another four species or subspecies of animals which haven't been seen recently may also be gone.

Some of these animals continue to survive in other countries, particularly the United States, and so are considered extirpated from Canada. Many others are globally extinct.

Several of the extinct animals were isolated or endemic to Canada such as Dawson caribou on BC's Queen Charlotte Islands, and Banff longnose dace, a fish which occupied only one marsh. Others, including eastern elk and Atlantic gray whale, were exterminated from their entire range that extended well outside of Canada.

Besides these, at least another 25 species and subspecies of vertebrates: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are depleted and now considered extirpated from one or more provinces, although they still live elsewhere in Canada. The lack of any recent confirmed local evidence of another ten birds and five mammals suggests that they might also have died out from at least one province in their former range.