All seven sea turtle species are threatened or endangered. They face multiple anthropogenic stressors from plastic ingestion to entanglement, warming beaches, and direct harvest. Understanding their welfare needs is key to effective conservation.
Sea turtles are capable of experiencing pain and distress. Entanglement in fishing gear causes drowning, physical injury from lines cutting through flippers and shell, and prolonged exhaustion stress. Plastic ingestion causes gut impaction and chronic suffering before death. Fibropapillomatosis, a viral tumor disease now epidemic in some populations, causes debilitating growths that impair vision, feeding, and swimming. Rehabilitation of sick and injured turtles has become a major welfare intervention, with centers worldwide treating hundreds of turtles annually. Long-term welfare requires systemic change to reduce the threats that cause individual suffering at scale.