The Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp runs the European Ex-situ breeding Programme (EEP) for Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus). This roughly means that in order to maintain a genetically healthy and sustainable population, the programme co-ordinator determines which birds should breed, and what will happen to new-born animals. For the majority of zoo-bred species, this is pretty straightforward; they remain in zoos and stay part of the breeding programme. Not so for black vultures, as they are part of a reintroduction programme in which captive-bred vulture fledglings are used for release in southern Europe. However, too few vultures are born in zoos to allow enough birds to go to France every year without compromising the breeding programme. We therefore launched a long term research programme focusing on what affects breeding success in Eurasian black vultures and how to use that knowledge to improve the breeding programme and the success of the reintroductions. This talk provides an overview of the science and practice of breeding a charismatic European species and returning it to the wild.