I read through a thread about Nevada limiting the desert tortoises to one per houshold. Many forum members gave a good point. Well this explains to many that refered to "why not let them back into the wild". A very good reason of why not to is in this article. This is a more modern updated version of what happened when people did let them go, or expose the wild population with a carrier. Wild specimens can carry these viruses. But this should sum it more up in regards to that topic(found here)http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-70313.html
Full article is here.
http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/docs/Mojave7.pdf
Full article is here.
http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound/docs/Mojave7.pdf