I certainly respect your field experience and am also happy at the prospect of some reintroduction programs where appropriate. However, the potential pathogen thing is real, and this can't just be done by any herp enthusiast willing to breed. All it takes is mites and viruses (sometimes from the other side of the globe) present in other members of the person's collection and the conseqeunces can be devastating. I have seen epidemics go through collections many times. They don't always kill everything dramatically or at once or at all. Sometimes it just affects reproduction. Many of these pathogens, particularly viral ones, haven't even been identified, and many identified ones are poorly undertstood even though we have known about them for 20 years or more. I have witnessed large groups(nearly 100) of previously healthy eastern box turtles, that were not heat stressed and were well taken care of, die one by one over a year despite good medical care. Same thing for big groups of redfoots, chondros and emeralds. There are well known cases of reintroduced tortoises in Nevada and California that infected wild populations with respiratory viruses. you can't count on mother nature to deal with pathogens that are completely new to a population. That's what happened to chestnut and elm trees, and now its happening to green ashes. Reintroduction is great but has to be done in the right way, and carefully.

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