Hawksbill sea turtles face multiple anthropogenic threats causing suffering across their life stages, from entanglement and ingestion of plastic to illegal harvesting for their shells.
Hawksbill sea turtles suffer welfare harms across their entire life cycle. Hatchlings face disorientation from artificial beach lighting and high predation mortality. Adults endure the chronic stress of navigating degraded ocean environments, the painful and often fatal experience of plastic ingestion, and entanglement that causes drowning, limb loss, and infection. Illegal harvesting involves prolonged suffering before slaughter. Climate change threatens nest thermal optima, increasing developmental abnormalities in eggs. Marine protected area enforcement, beach lighting ordinances, and ghost gear removal directly reduce acute turtle suffering and support population recovery.