I decided that Shaky was right and that I ought to present something more than just a feeling of criticism for Rich's releases, so here's a start:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/20095276
"
...upper respiratory tract disease in the Desert Tortoise (G. agassizii) is thought to have been introduced into populations of tortoises in the Mojave Desert in the southwestern U.S.A. by release of ill captive desert tortoises. A similar situation appears to exist for certain populations of the Gopher Tortoise in Florida, U.S.A.."
This is an example of captive animals transmitting disease to native populations through release. This piece of evidence establishes that the degree of risk in this behavior is serious enough to warrant criticism.
I bet I could find others...
Doesn't sound like they are all too positive about their speculations, now does it? Emphasis added, btw. Heck, I could strike a decent argument against that hypothesis concerning the gopher tortoises in that it's been a well publicized practice for developers wanting to build on the tortoises' natural preferred terrain, to dig out those tortoises and relocate them to localities that are NOT preferred for development. Coincidentally enough, those localities are not preferred for the tortoises neither, otherwise they would already be living there. Generally, those relocated areas are low lying, damp, and (yes, big stretch of the imagination here) quite likely to increase the incidence of respiratory distress from the elevated moisture levels in animals already highly stressed out from the relocation process. Even discounting this scenario, it could quite possibly be the relocation of wild SICK animals into other populations that contributed to the problem, and had nothing at all to do with captive released tortoises. For that matter, I don't believe that the gopher tortoise was ever all that popular as a pet anyway, so such an incidence of captive releases would be an insignificant factor compared to the wholesale relocations during the booming Florida development frenzy.
Now, back to corn snakes, heck, before I ever got into the business of producing corns to sell, I thought it was a noble gesture to release most of my corns in various locales all up and down the eastern seaboard back in the early to mid 80s. In the 20 years or so since I did that, has there EVER been any incident of an unexplained epidemic or die off among corn snakes in wild populations?
So this all boils down to your apparent baseless FEAR about releasing captive animals into the wild and the fact that someone who disagrees with you MUST be irresponsible? And you claim that some states have established laws against such releases? What states and what was the actual basis for those laws?
I would assume that anyone well established in the breeding industry would know how to get rid of these animals. One way to do it, as unfortunate as it seems, is to euthanize them. You could also give them to coral snake owners as feeders, things of this nature. The point is that you created the problem of excess offspring, you should be able to find a solution that minimizes risk at all costs.
See? You don't even understand the circumstances under which I have released some animals. I have never had a problem with excess offspring and can sell every one I want to. But some animals that demonstrate that they are not compatible with being in captivity, or insist on feed items other then that I would prefer they take, or perhaps have spinal kinks that are not life threatening yet make them difficult to sell, well, I BELIEVE they are better off with being released rather then your apparent solution, which is to just kill them. At least I give those living creatures a CHANCE. As far as the corn snakes themselves are concerned, wouldn't a rational person, if they thought hard enough about it, come to the logical conclusion that providing an animal a chance at survival is much more ethical and responsible then simply killing them without providing such a chance? In my opinion, if a person can't have even that minimal level of compassion for the animals they are working with, well perhaps working with living animals is something that they are not really cut out to do.
Sorry to belabor this point, but you are only expressing an opinion that is nothing more then that. Simply an OPINION. It is based completely on conjecture and supposition, and you are distraught that everyone else is not swallowing your opinion wholesale without requiring that some PROOF would be nice to support your opinion. You are stating that it is your opinion that releasing captive hatched animals MAY be detrimental to the wild population and it is better to kill the animals rather than take that chance. My opinion is that captive releases PROBABLY will not harm the wild population they may come in contact, and with that in mind, it is better to give those animals a shot at living rather then just kill them based on an unlikely scenario that some may be inflating to the level of fact rather than what is really nothing more then wild guesses.
Honestly, I have had this same conversation many times before, and to date no one has provided any proof to me contrary to my own opinion on this matter. Not that it matters any longer, as I am out of the business of breeding reptiles, but I guess I still like to engage in a debate of this nature, even if it is only an academic exercise.
So if you have any further information that is actually based on fact, please let me know. Otherwise mere repetition of the same arguments using different wording is just not going to be of interest to me.
They, too, are driven more by emotion and rhetoric then by logical deductions made from hard facts.