I've used the 'capture wild pet' feature several times now and out of that only caught someone twice, and looking at the auctions, it almost seems like by the time one has paid for liscenses and hired the catchers a couple times, you'd be better off just buying a decently bred pet outright.

Is there a purpose to the wild pet option outside of just ensuring you dont end up breeding family members? What is the best way to acquire pets?

I exclusively buy well-bred pets from other people. If you're wanting to get seriously into the breeding aspect, wild pets are a good way to introduce the genes you want without worrying about inbreeding, but other than that I wouldn't bother. Though I guess if you're good at it you've got a source for cheap SPSB fodder.

You will probably want to buy some well bred pets from other players to get you started.

If you like the breeding aspect though, wild pets can be a great source of genes that you may not be able to find in the species you are interested in.

I still send them out to catch.  Sometimes I keep what I get, sometimes it gets sent to the SPSB, occasionally they are nice but not something I am looking for so I check to see if others are looking for a wild pet of that type and sell it to them.

IMO you might found better pets even in pound, and they don't have to be  tamed. Good idea would be looking for pounded children of good individual beast, when you click them, you might be able to adopt them once a day. So you don't have to search in pound tab, just surf, find something interesting and give it a shot. I have build my fortune with pounded pets :)

i suggest going to the pound people thow pets in there all the time today i got a level 5 unicorn its my highest level pet!