Sea turtle rehabilitation programs rescue injured and sick turtles with welfare care that enables successful return to the wild, though outcomes vary significantly by injury type.
Sea turtle rehabilitation welfare requires honest prognosis assessment throughout the rehabilitation process. Cold-stunned turtles with no additional injury have excellent prognosis for release and rehabilitation is clearly welfare-positive. Turtles with severe propeller injuries or extensive fibropapillomatosis may face extended rehabilitation that involves significant ongoing welfare costs that must be balanced against release prognosis. Euthanasia is an appropriate welfare decision for turtles with poor release prognosis rather than indefinite captive maintenance. The emotional investment in individual animals must not override honest welfare assessment. Post-release monitoring through tagging provides valuable data on rehabilitation effectiveness while enabling welfare assessment of released animals.