Sea turtles in zoo and aquarium settings serve welfare rehabilitation and public education functions, but long-term captive welfare of a species evolved for ocean-scale migration requires careful management.
Sea turtle welfare in captivity varies significantly by holding quality and individual circumstance. Non-releasable turtles with serious injuries may have adequate welfare in large, well-managed aquarium exhibits - their alternative is euthanasia rather than wild release. Rehabilitation patients have short-term welfare costs from handling and medical treatment that serve the goal of eventual release. The welfare question for non-releasable turtles is whether the aquarium environment supports sufficient behavioural complexity and social opportunity to maintain positive welfare. The education value of public turtle displays that raise conservation concern for wild populations justifies captive management when individual turtle welfare is genuinely maintained.