電腦遊戲開發商Rovio Entertainment 30日發表憤怒鳥季節版，同時宣布將與非營利組織國際鳥盟（BirdLife International）合作，保護真實的南太平洋鳥類。
新版憤怒鳥 開啟瀕危鳥種保衛戰
跟憤怒鳥遊戲的設定一樣，太平洋鳥類受到外來掠食者的威脅；外來掠食者會吃掉牠們的蛋，導致太平洋鳥類瀕臨絕種。
這款新遊戲讓玩家探索真實太平洋鳥類背後的故事，並支援牠們對抗非原生掠食者。
「憤怒鳥全球下載次數超過28億，我們的粉絲熟知憤怒鳥對抗小豬、拯救鳥蛋的故事。能在遊戲中反映真實鳥類現況，幫助國際鳥盟保護和復育太平洋鳥類真是太棒了。國際鳥盟所拯救的鳥類，有些數量已經比Rovio Entertainment的員工還要少。」Rovio Entertainment遊戲資深副總裁Sami Lahtinen說。
外來種威脅 瀕危鳥類更少了
人類引進老鼠等非原生物種到太平洋島嶼，造成太平洋鳥類物種半數滅絕。根據記錄，外來種是鳥類滅絕的主要原因，和超過半數瀕危鳥類的數量下降有關。
國際鳥盟指出，今日共有81種太平洋鳥類瀕臨絕種。
為了挽救這些鳥類和其他野生動物，國際鳥盟和合作夥伴已經在5個太平洋國家重建超過30座島嶼，分別是庫克群島、斐濟、法屬玻里尼西亞、新喀裡多尼亞和帛琉。
棲地重建 國際鳥盟尋求各方支援
現在有了Rovio和社群募資平台kriticalmass的協助，國際鳥盟預計募款150,000美元，重建法屬玻里尼西亞的鳥類棲地島嶼。
法屬玻里尼西亞的計畫目標是回穩極度瀕危鳥種數量。如玻里尼西亞地鳩（Polynesian Ground-dove）等鳥種，現在只剩下不到100隻個體，將藉此獲得更大的存續機會。
使用者可上網瀏覽或分享太平洋鳥類的故事，並成為志工、捐款或購買點數，幫助拯救太平洋鳥類。
除此之外，國際鳥盟也尋求其他資源協助執行全太平洋鳥類保育的長期計畫。
「過去10年，國際鳥盟已經成為移除太平洋島嶼外來掠食者的專家。有更多資金，我們就能將更多熱帶島嶼恢復成原始風貌，幫助當地鳥類和其他物種復育。」國際鳥盟執行長Patricia Zurita說。
Patricia Zurita補充，移除外來掠食者也能幫助當地社群增加作物收成。
The company behind the wildly popular computer game Angry Birds, Rovio Entertainment, is joining with the nonprofit BirdLife International in a unique campaign to protect real-life birds in the South Pacific.
Like their counterparts in the game, Pacific birds are threatened by introduced predators eating their eggs and pushing them to the verge of extinction.
Rovio Entertainment Ltd announced with the planned release of Angry Birds Seasons Thursday that they are entering the fight to save the most threatened birds of the Pacific from extinction.
The new game will allow players to explore the story behind real birds in the Pacific and support their struggle against non-native predators.
“With more than 2.8 billion downloads of Angry Birds our fans worldwide know only too well the story of the Angry Birds’ mission to protect their eggs from their mischievous nemesis, the piggies.” said Sami Lahtinen, senior vice president Games at Rovio Entertainment, based in Espoo, Finland.
“It is great to be able to reflect this story with a real life situation that helps BirdLife protect and restore bird populations in the Pacific,” he said.
“It’s really sobering to realize that some of the species to be saved by BirdLife have populations lower than the number of staff working at Rovio Entertainment,” said Lahtinen.
Humans have introduced non-native species such as rats to Pacific islands, causing the extinction of half of all bird species in the Pacific.
Introduced species have been the primary driver of documented bird extinctions. They are implicated in the decline of more than half of all threatened bird species.
BirdLife says 81 Pacific bird species are threatened with extinction today.
To save their bird populations and other wildlife, BirdLife and its partners have restored more than 30 islands in five Pacific countries: the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Palau.
Now, with the support from Rovio and the crowd, and run with positive impact platform kriticalmass, BirdLife is seeking to raise $150,000 for island restoration in French Polynesia.
The work in French Polynesia will target islands with populations of critically endangered birds. Species like the Polynesian Ground-dove, Gallicolumba erythroptera, now reduced to fewer than 100 birds, will be given a better chance of survival.
On www.kriticalmass.com/p/savepacificbirds users can hear and share the story and also volunteer, donate money or buy rewards to help save the birds in the Pacific.
BirdLife is also seeking additional support for its longer-term plans to save species from extinction across the Pacific.
“Over the past decade BirdLife International has become expert at removing non-native predators from Pacific islands,” said Patricia Zurita, BirdLife’s CEO. “With more funding we can make a huge difference to more tropical islands and restore them back to their original paradise and help the local bird populations and other species thrive.
Zurita says local communities benefit from better crop yields when non-native predators are removed.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
