Sea turtle rehabilitation from entanglement, boat strikes and cold stunning requires specialist veterinary care - welfare standards for rehabilitation and release protocols protect individual and population welfare.
Sea turtle rehabilitation welfare requires specialist knowledge of their physiology and ecology. Cold-stunned turtles require careful rewarming - too rapid warming causes circulatory shock. Rehabilitation periods of weeks to months require appropriate diet, tank conditions and veterinary monitoring. Release decisions must consider individual turtle condition, season, and release location. Population welfare considerations include releasing rehabilitated turtles into areas with reduced entanglement risk where possible. The welfare case for fishing gear modification to reduce entanglement is reinforced by the high cost and complexity of rehabilitation - prevention is far preferable to treatment.