All seven species of sea turtle are threatened or endangered. They face welfare harms from fishing bycatch, plastic ingestion, and nesting habitat loss driven by coastal development and climate change.
Sea turtles face multiple welfare threats across their entire life cycle. Bycatch entanglement causes acute distress and drowning — turtles are air-breathing reptiles that can hold their breath for hours but drown when caught in nets and unable to surface. Plastic ingestion causes progressive intestinal obstruction — a prolonged and painful death. Nesting females disturbed by beachfront lighting lose orientation, wasting energy and failing to nest successfully. Hatchlings attracted toward artificial light instead of the ocean die from exhaustion and predation. Sea turtle rehabilitation programs provide critical care to injured animals, but address symptoms rather than the systemic threats of bycatch and plastic pollution that require policy solutions.