Kelly Tarlton's Marine Wildlife Trust

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.

Our longest running initiative, and one that we are most proud of, is New Zealand's one and only Turtle Hospital. Taking in sick and injured sea turtles since the 80's, we have released over 50 back to the wild. With more turtles arriving each year, further funding is required to ensure that this hospital can continue into the future.

We also have our education initiative - Ocean Youth. This is 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 such as snorkel days, whale and dolphin safari’s and beach cleans - we're helping to develop young leaders for positive environmental change!

Ocean Youth does more than inspire; it offers participants a platform and an opportunity to turn their passion into actions, with tangible results at the end of the year. As a result of the Ocean Youth program in 2019 (the first to occur in New Zealand) there have been litter traps scheduled to be installed in storm-water drains, cigarette bins built, re-usable coffee cups produced as well as other actions completed by participants.

To ensure this program can cater for all, and remain affordable for all, we need to raise additional funds to cover the increased costs of the program.