SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - On Tuesday, the 400th light-footed clapper rail was released into the wild right here in San Diego.
Team Clapper Rail released seven captive-bred birds at the Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve in Mission Bay.
This is the 12th year the team has hosted a release of the endangered birds.
Organizers say it is so important to take care of our environment to preserve the lives it holds.
"It makes me feel wonderful. You know, sometimes it's a little frustrating, it goes so slowly, but it's just the way these ecosystems are. When you put them into such disrepair, you don't get reparation overnight," Dick Zembal of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy said.
The clapper rail numbers started declining as their natural habitat -- salt marshes -- started disappearing.
