Bison's probably the best example I can think of regarding an animal, whose population recovery has hugely been driven by that purpose.

There are small select herds of wild bison in protected areas, and I imagine that would be the case even without ranching. But these bison herds are often carefully managed, as else wise the herd population would start to conflict with ranchers and farmers surrounding the protected areas. (This is the case with the Yellowstone bison herd for instance -- https://www.hcn.org/articles/the-science-behind-yellowstones... )

The bison population has grown from near extinction in the early 20th century to roughly half a million today. About 96% of these half a million bison are bred for consumption by humans. ( http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/five-things/the-great-a... )

... taken over their natural habitats, and then bred them into distorted shapes that would not survive in the wild. Chickens, for example, have been cross-bred so that their breasts are freakishly huge compared to their ancestors ... some chickens have a harder time walking upright due to this. We couldn't send these animals back into the wild because their current genes didn't evolve / adapt in the wild in the first place.