I firmly believe that once an animal is removed from the wild, it is genetically "dead". Rehabilitation sometimes works, if the animal is released exactly where it was taken, but the mortality rate is over 75% for all of the rehabed animals in Arizona that are released back.
The big problem was addressed quite well by Crichton a few years back, when he stated that: "scientists only ask themselves can we, rather than should we." (to paraphrase)
I don't breed all of my captive animals. There is no market for Kribensis here, or for albino garter snakes...what would I do with the young? Cull them or release them? Better to not breed them at all until I have a buyer. The same goes for the dwarf octopus we were working with...I checked with all of the aquarium distributors, and none of them were interested at all. So we cancelled the effort.
Better to study them in the wild, and it gives me another excuse to get down to Mexico more often.
Greg