HA NOI (VNS)  — England's Prince William has teamed up with the Angry Birds designers in a game that aims to raise awareness about illegal wildlife poaching.

Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylised wingless birds, the first game was released for Apple's iOS in December 2009.

United for Wildlife, a group of seven international conservation organisations, joined Prince William, the group's president, and Rovio, to create an Angry Birds Friends tournament online featuring pangolins.

The team hopes to encourage younger people to start saying "no" to poached ivory, rhino horn and other animal products based on killing rare animals.

Angry Birds reaches a vast audience online, especially in countries like Viet Nam, where there is high demand for illegal wildlife products.

Players can access the game at www.friends.angrybirds.com. — VNS