Kelly Tarlton's Marine Wildlife Trust

Rescue and rehabilitation of marine animals

The Kelly Tarlton's Marine Wildlife Trust is a registered environmental non-profit organisation dedicated to rescue, rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned marine wildlife and the eventual release of such wildlife into their natural habitat.

The Kelly Tarlton's Marine Wildlife Trust aims to carry on Kelly's legacy of caring for, and creating love for the oceans. We hope to achieve this through a combination of hands-on initiatives, as well as education programs set to inspire the youth of today.

Animal rescue and rehabilitation is a lengthy and expensive exercise. Annually SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's has approximately six marine turtles brought into the facility for rehabilitation, of which at lease two thirds are successfully rehabilitated. Each turtle costs approximately $10,000 to rehabilitate.

Funds raised by the Kelly Tarlton's Marine Wildlife Trust will support rehabilitation programmes including vet visits, transportation costs and also enable valuable scientific researches such as satellite tracking devices and tagging before release.

Turtles face a number of threats in the wild including boat strikes, accidental plastic ingestion or entanglement. KTMWT working in association with DOC to recover turtles requiring care.

KTMWT funds the rehabilitation of sick or injured turtles; supply adequate containment facilities, medical and rehabilitation care until the eventual release into their natural habitat.

Taka In Turtle Bay 1 (Credit SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's)

Where conditions permits, turtles are placed at Turtle Bay serving as ambassadors for the marine species, educating the public on the plight of their wild counterparts through daily education talks.

Where possible, turtles are attached with satellite tagging equipment to enable scientific research into the species.

A tracking project website where you can follow turtles that SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's and our aquariums in Australia have rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild. Turtle Watch was created as an epicentre of turtle tracking for all SEA LIFE sites in Australia and New Zealand.

Find out more about Turtle Watch

Ocean Youth is our latest education initiative. It's a year-long conservation education program engaging young people in the community. From releasing rehabilitated sea turtles to skills-building sessions and nature-based experiences, we are helping to develop young leaders for positive environmental change.

About Ocean Youth

Meet our team

Trustee of Kelly Tarlton’s Marine Wildlife Trust and Waiheke Marine Project. Craig is focused on helping aquariums and communities get behind strategies and programs that will contribute to growing efforts to restore the marine ecosystem of not only the Hauraki Gulf / Tikapa Mōana, but may help coastal communities everywhere to take action.