I agree with Davo. Captive-breeding reptiles is tons better than wild-caught for several reasons.
1.) Captive breeding programs have little/no effect on wild populations (save for the occasional delving to get "new blood" in our stock). This of course, better maintains those wild populations that are otherwise getting constantly depleted from over-collection.
2.) Whenever an animal is taken from its wild habitat, you can bet it has some form of parasite in/on it. Also, you have to account for the amount of stress it endures as it is: initially captured, bagged/boxed in crowded conditions with conspecifics, being shipped halfway across the world (still probably kept in crowded conditions) all the while being kept cold and too damp or too dry, then finally arriving at its destination. On top of all that, its probably been poked and prodded at every step of the way. And we wonder why WC animals look like crap, not to mention scarred and missing appendages of some form.
3.) With a captive animal, you're not only guaranteed a more healthy herp that has not endured the hardships of a WC one, but you also have a mich better opportunity to know the heritage of it. You don't know what you're getting with a WC, but nowadays, you can usually know what the parents looked like, what/when it last ate, how old it is, etc, etc.
4.) Allowing herps to breed in captivity also sometimes yields unexpecting rewards for the scientific community. We've learned many things about many species during their reproductive cycles that we may have never discovered simply from field research. Not to mention that some endangered species have made a comeback directly from captive-breeding.
I really can't understand how anyone could argue that WC animals are better, unless of course, all you care about is money.
Now, I do understand that many species are still being imported, and again, as someone touched on it earlier, it is regrettably a money issue. Take tokay geckos for example...still heavily imported. Know why? They're cheap. You can get one for under $20 easily. True, they're mean as all get out, and that's why no one wants to start breeding them. Decades ago, leopard geckos were the same way....until we discovered the potential of different color morphs. People started breeding them to bring out the Hi-yellows, etc, then the prices started rising....but they're still popular. Huh...maybe someone will stumble across an albino tokay or something...
I also understand that there are a lot of stupid, irresponsible people out there that have no business owning pets. But you know what? That's life. Their freedom is our freedom. I think there should definitely be better regulations on larger species (large constrictors, monitors, crocs, etc), but our economy can't thrive if people are prohibited from buying pets just because they're "stupid." I mean, its simply not good business. As a petstore clerk (or hypothetically, if I was a breeder), I can't refuse sales just because I think someone is ill-equipped to care for a particular animal. Now I can shove caresheets down their throat, and talk to them for an hour, filling their dense skulls with everything I know, but at the end of the day, I can't tell them to take a hike because they're dimwits. In that, Brooks, I do understand your frustration, but there's not much else we can do in those situations beyond just educating the ignorant.
That said, I would much rather pay twice as much for a herp knowing that it was CCB and not WC.
Now if someone is arguing that we shouldn't keep animals as pets at all, that is another issue altogether and you're in the wrong forum.
