Sea turtle nesting beaches are critical habitat where individual turtles face significant welfare risks from artificial lighting, beach obstacles, temperature extremes, and nest predation.
Female sea turtles nesting on beaches face acute welfare challenges. The physical demands of excavating a nest in hot sand while out of the water causes significant exertion and heat stress. Turtles that encounter beach furniture, sand castles, or holes dug by beachgoers may become trapped or injured. The disorienting effect of artificial lighting causes nesting females to abandon nesting attempts and return to sea without successfully nesting, wasting enormous energy expenditure. Hatchlings that follow artificial light inland die from dehydration, predation, or vehicle strikes. Rising beach temperatures from climate change are skewing sex ratios so severely in some populations that male hatching success is approaching zero - a population-level welfare and conservation crisis.