The following paper describes the historical eradication of the bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus in the Alps, the early unsuccessful efforts to re-introduce captured birds from Afghanistan and Russia and the up to now successful re-introduction programme with captive-bred bearded vultures. In this programme the strategy has been not only to improve the reproduction success rate in captivity but also to raise public awareness in a long-term information campaign drawing on the expertise of researchers, museums and specialised journalists. As a consequence the bearded vulture is generally accepted topday as being not a predator but rather a scavenger and bone-eater.