Would we know as much as we do about the captive propogation of these animals if it weren't for the genetic mutations that drive breeders to create the next big thing? Highly unlikely. We owe a great deal of our knowledge on the species to the "freaks". And, as was already pointed out, reintroduction programs using CB animals, especially multigenerational captive animals, are exceedingly rare. If ball pythons were to go extinct in the wild, what would be the reason? If it was something like massive habitat loss, there would be no reason to reintroduce them anyway. By keeping and breeding them, we ensure that:

A-the demand for WC animals is decreased, and
B-there will always be that species of animal alive on the planet, in all it's various paint jobs, for people to enjoy.

And two more points I want to make-Just about anyone who breeds ball pythons ends up with normals every season, and they're not going anywhere any time soon, and while it is unusual, I remember back in the day, before ranchers in Africa looked for anything remotely odd on farm hatched babies, that those fancy morphs were imported into the country as WC adults or subadults, so some of those animals do survive. In fact, I seem to remember a large breeder importing a gravid female lavendar albino some years ago.
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