Sea turtle rehabilitation centres treat stranded and injured turtles globally. The welfare of turtles in care and the quality of release outcomes are critical measures of rehabilitation success.
Sea turtle rehabilitation involves prolonged captive care that carries its own welfare costs - handling stress, tank confinement, and medical procedures - balanced against the benefit of survival and eventual release. The welfare quality of the release itself is critical: inadequately rehabilitated turtles may fail to survive in the wild, making extended captive care welfare-counterproductive. Tracking post-release survival and behaviour provides the evidence base for improving rehabilitation protocols. Supporting high-quality rehabilitation facilities that invest in post-release monitoring contributes to better welfare outcomes for individual turtles.