"A reason for living" is the way Ohad Hatzofeh described the moment when, last week, he received a photograph snapped by a wildlife photographer from a blind at Sde Boker, in the Negev. It showed a Griffon vulture with a band on its leg eating an animal carcass. "This bird hatched at Gamla in 2000, and was banded in the nest. In 2004 it disappeared on us, and here it is back again," Hatzofeh said.

Hatzofeh, an avian ecologist with the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, who is responsible for its reintroduction program, likes to call this vulture "my grandson." Its mother, Aphrodite, was one of the first to hatch in Sde Boker's breeding nucleus, and was released into the wild.

Hatzofeh is a reintroduction expert, but he says, "Reintroduction is important, but the most important and difficult thing is protecting the status quo. That's the gray routine."

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Changes wrought by human beings are the main reason for the rapid disappearance of species. Animals with more specific survival needs are the first to join lists of endangered species following habitat changes, says Amir Balaban, director of the Jerusalem bird research station of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI).

The reintroduction of raptors became a hot topic throughout the world in the 1980s. Naturalists had begun to realize that laws to protect the birds would not be enough, because extinct populations were almost incapable of recovering on their own. Attempts at reintroduction in Israel have been ongoing for about 20 years.

Hatzofeh explains that reintroduction is a scientific endeavor. "You don't just throw the birds into the wild. You have to meet clear standards of genetics and ecology," he says.

Reintroduction also has to meet international criteria, defined by the the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The first of these rules is "last out (extinct in the wild) - first back (reintroduced)." Another rule is ensuring that the conditions that led to the extinction have changed.

Balaban says the need to choose which species to reintroduce is "terrible," but governed by a necessary protocol, because "there's no point reintroducing the white-tailed eagle in a place where it used to nest, and now is full of electric poles. What would be the point in bringing a white-tail from Holland, putting it in a cage, investing endless work in acclimatizing, monitoring and feeding it, and then releasing it - and it flies straight to an electric pole to perch, and is killed?"

The hard work does not end with the release. Monitoring and food supply are among the most important tasks to ensure the success of the operation. Feeding stations for Griffon vultures have been established throughout the country. Birds that have lost the ability to fly are brought to some. They signal to their free-flying brethren that food is available. Sometimes, like at Belvoir National Park, overlooking the Jordan Valley, they even reproduce.

The released birds face numerous challenges, among them predators, hunters, poisoning and electrocution. In the past decade, more than 60 vultures have been poisoned. Hatzofeh says these incidents are frustrating, to say the least, but "you have to look at things in proportion and see how they are improving."

Balaban does not hide the emotional aspect of his work.

"When you hear about the last Eurasian black vulture in the Arava, it's heart-rending. The fantasy that one day you will be able to reintroduce a bird to the wild is exciting," he says.