Sea turtle rehabilitation centers provide intensive welfare care for stranded, injured, and cold-stunned turtles across all seven species.
Sea turtle rehabilitation welfare spans the acute emergency response phase through months of intensive care and culminates in a release decision that requires honest assessment of fitness for return to the wild. Welfare during rehabilitation requires species-specific water temperature management — turtles from different latitudes have different thermal requirements. Decompression sickness in turtles dragged to the surface by fishing gear requires staged decompression protocols. Pain management for hook injuries and entanglement wounds is increasingly standard. Post-release satellite tracking provides welfare quality data about rehabilitation success that guides continuous improvement in protocols.