Really great post here.
I am an extremely minor private keeper/breeder of reptiles and the attitude in the hobby is something I've always found to be misinformed. A lot of veteran keepers will advise new keepers to avoid vets altogether. There's a strange dogma that in a lot of cases keepers are better off treating animals on their own without a qualified vet. This is nuts to me. Just because your local dog/cat vet lacks experience with reptiles does not mean you shouldn't seek another. DVMs still have a vastly superior knowledge of microbiology and zoonosis than any hobbyist YouTuber without a practice.
Private keepers have done a great deal in advancing breeding and care for some species. That said, practices in zoos differ than most people who keep exotics in the home. Quarantine is more stringent, cross-contamination is strictly controlled, and staff vets await any time something goes awry. Zoos also have the means to test every animal that comes into their collection for viruses and bacteria before they bloom and become a problem in a large group of animals.
Hobbyists have their place. I'm astonished at what advances private keepers have made particularly in monitor lizard husbandry over the last 20 years. Ball pythons were once anorexic snakes than nobody could get to eat. Now their care is so well understood that there are probably too many of them out there. However, you have to look at longevity. There's a reason a zoo can keep a green tree python alive for almost 20 years while private keepers often struggle to get them past 8.
As you say, the solution should be cooperation, not constant badmouthing minus context.
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