Zoos and aquariums participate in sea turtle conservation through headstarting, rehabilitation and public education. The welfare of individual turtles in these programmes must be actively managed.
Sea turtle welfare in conservation programmes requires balancing the conservation imperative (producing maximum hatchlings or rehabilitating maximum individuals for release) against individual animal welfare during captivity. Headstarted turtles kept too long in small tanks develop behavioural abnormalities from environmental restriction; those released too early may not survive. Rehabilitation turtles with severe injuries face welfare assessments about whether partial recovery is sufficient for wild survival. The welfare-positive approach monitors individual animals continuously, provides enriched tank environments with hiding space and current simulation, and makes honest release assessments based on demonstrated survival capacity.