The release of tortoises after confinement and treatment in rehabilitation centres includes the risk that released individuals may infect wild conspecifics with foreign parasites and other pathogens. The recent monitoring of the release of rehabilitated leopard tortoises (Stigmochelys pardalis) onto private land in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, revealed that the health-checking protocol at the wildlife rehabilitation centre was inadequate. As a result the provincial conservation authority placed a moratorium on further leopard tortoise releases until a comprehensive health-checking protocol was in place. This protocol is detailed here to ensure the success of the release of confiscated and rehabilitated leopard tortoises, and that this does not come at cost to the wild leopard tortoise populations.