Restoring an Angry Bird Paradise

The popular video game partners with BirdLife International to save real Pacific Island habitat.

There鈥檚 something unusual in 鈥淭ropigal Paradise,鈥 the newest episode of Angry Birds Seasons that was released on April 30. As always, there are irate birds, and they鈥檙e bouncing through 26 new levels of palms trees and beaches to save their eggs from the dastardly green pigs. But there鈥檚 also a banner that implores players to 鈥淗elp The Birds!鈥

Not the addictive digitized birds, but the real-life counterpart of each character.

The Tahiti Monarch, Polynesian Ground-dove, Bristle-thighed Curlew, and Atoll Fruit-dove all live on Pacific Islands, and all have experienced drastic declines at the teeth and claws of invasive rodents brought to the isles by humans around 2000 BC. Along with cats and goats, these unwelcome real-life green-pig-equivalents drove to extinction in the Pacific Islands. Of the surviving species remaining in the Pacific area today, 81 are still threatened with extinction.

BirdLife International has been racing to save at-risk bird populations on more than 30 islands in five Pacific countries鈥擟ook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Palau鈥攊n the last decade. The group鈥檚 , to rid French Polynesia of ship rats, comes at a cost of $150,000. BirdLife has already lined up half the money, and is hoping benevolent Angry fans will click on the 鈥淗elp The Birds!鈥 banner and to fill the remaining $75,000 gap.

The rats are in 鈥渢he wrong place at the wrong time,鈥 says BirdLife鈥檚 Head of Communications Ade Long. BirdLife鈥檚 aim is 鈥渢o restore these tropical paradise islands back to their original glory,鈥 says Long.

And it鈥檚 not just for the birds. Eliminating the invasive species will be a boon for local human communities as well, increasing crop yields and lowering risk of disease. Plus, in highly infested areas, he says, 鈥渢oes won鈥檛 be getting nibbled in the nighttime anymore.鈥

After taking care of the real-life birds, Angry Birds fans are encouraged to return to defending the virtual ones.

Editor鈥檚 Note:  is the largest conservation partnership in the world鈥攍earn more about their . The 爆料公社 serves as a BirdLife partner in the Western Hemisphere.