Released Pokemon!

[weedle_mchairybug]

You forgot that Ash never capture Larvitar with a Pokeball, so Larvitar should be considered the same that Haunter. Both were companions of Ash, but never his real Pokemon.. And Beedril doesn't count either because Ash caught it for a competition, not because hi really wanted it.
Only Lapras, Butterfree and Pidgeot were actually released. I don't think we could see Butterfre again, but maybe Lapras and Pidgeot yes.. I wait for Pidgeot in Battle Frontier, because in the Opening Ash is shown with a Pidgeot and a Tyranitar (I also thought it could be Larvitar evolved). I think I was wrong :(

Well, technically, the Pokeball thing doesn't actually GUARANTEE that the pokemon was caught by a trainer. Remember, Misty's Togepi was labeled as being Misty's Pokemon despite the fact that it was never placed in a Poke Ball, period (actually, while it was hinted that something Similar might have happened with Larvitar, Togepi was the only pokemon owned by the main cast to actually be owned by a character despite having never been placed in a Pokeball.)

Also, I should point out an example where, despite explicitly being caught in a trainer's pokeball, it still was never the trainer's to begin with. Brock's Vulpix. I mean, Brock was explicitly shown to place Vulpix in a pokeball owned by him, and yet, when Vulpix's goodbye episode, Beauty and the Breeder, came on the air, he stated that Vulpix was never really his to begin with, and that he only held on to it. (In fact, Vulpix was the ONLY Pokemon caught in a Poke Ball to not be owned by the trainer.)

Besides, in regards to whether Larvitar is caught by Ash or not, I'd say it was caught by ash (I mean, the mere fact that it was even FEATURED in Spurt hints that it was, indeed, Ash's Pokemon.). For the whole "He was to deliver it to Tyranitar" thing, does that really matter? I mean, Lapras was to be delivered to it's family as well (Ash even Promised that he would do that), should we say that it wasn't actually caught by Ash, then?

Still, The only ones who were Actually released are Butterfree, Pidgeot, Lapras, and (technically) Larvitar. Primeape was to be trained temporarily under Anthony's care, so it doesn't count. Squirtle and Charizard, well, same as Primeape, only unlike Primeape, he can contact them to rejoin temporarily (I don't think Ash has Anthony's Phone #, and besides which, if the P1 Grand Prix being mentioned in Johto is anything to go by, even if he did, I don't think that he'd be able to recieve Primeape for quite a while.). Haunter wasn't actually his (unlike Larvitar, it didn't even attempt to battle under Ash, and it didn't even appear in Spurt.), Beedril was given to Casey, and the rest were Oak'd (which, contrary to popular belief, they DO excercise and train, and they certainly do far more than just "rot in their pokeballs" all day, Heck, "Showdown at the Poke Corral" even stated that they do train in that environment.).