Mexican Turtle Center ( CMT)

Mazunte Oaxaca Wildlife Rescue & Animal Hospital

A colorful mural featuring a sea turtle and a scenic landscape behind it, with a metal plaque on the right side that reads 'Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga'.

Mexican Turtle Center

For more than three decades, the Mexican Turtle Center (Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga (CMT) has been at the heart of wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, conservation, and environmental education on the Oaxacan coast.

Located in the small beach town of Mazunte, the Center provides care for injured sea turtles, crocodiles, seabirds, reptiles, marine mammals, and other native wildlife. Across hundreds of kilometers of coastline, it remains one of the only facilities equipped to provide specialized veterinary treatment and rehabilitation for wild animals in need.

Since its founding, the Center has rehabilitated and released countless animals back into their natural habitats. Animals that cannot survive independently in the wild receive long-term care and protection. The CMT has also played an important role in environmental education, helping generations of visitors, students, and researchers understand the importance of protecting Mexico's marine and coastal ecosystems.

Today, a team of 24 dedicated wildlife professionals continues this work under increasingly challenging conditions. Despite aging facilities and limited resources, their commitment has enabled the Center to maintain high standards of animal care while continuing to serve as a lifeline for wildlife across the region.

Our Support

We are working alongside the CMT and its local team to strengthen the infrastructure that makes wildlife rescue and rehabilitation possible.

Our work focuses on:

• Preserving and expanding the network of grassroots conservation initiatives the Center helped establish; connecting local communities, researchers, and conservation partners working to protect Oaxaca's coastline

• Improving veterinary facilities, equipment, and medical care

• Modernizing critical wildlife rehabilitation infrastructure

• Increasing rehabilitation success rates and long-term survival

• Ensuring the Center can continue serving wildlife and coastal communities for generations to come

By investing in these essential systems, we help ensure that injured animals receive the care they need. Not only to survive, but to return safely to the wild.

The CMT is more than a wildlife rehabilitation center. For over thirty years, it has served as a cornerstone of conservation on the Oaxacan coast, helping build the relationships, knowledge, and community-led initiatives that protect some of the world's most important sea turtle nesting beaches today.

As Puerto Escondido, Mazunte, and the wider Oaxacan coast continue to grow in popularity, there is a unique opportunity to strengthen one of the region's most important conservation institutions. Together, we can help secure the future of a center that has protected wildlife, educated communities, and inspired conservation for more than three decades.

  • Two men preparing a young lamb for a medical procedure or injection inside a room with a window showing outdoor structures.
  • Group of people cleaning and tidying up an empty, worn-out swimming pool with brushes and hoses, some standing and some kneeling.
  • A man wearing a black t-shirt and red cap standing in front of a large outdoor art installation. The artwork features a textured surface with various colors and a prominent depiction of the number 300, surrounded by stars and a bee. The wooden beams overhead indicate an outdoor or semi-outdoor setting.
  • Group of people observing aquatic animals in a shallow pool at an outdoor facility, with brick pillars and a wooden roof overhead.
  • A sandy pathway curves around a landscaped area with small plants and rocks, leading to a shaded gazebo with a thatched roof, in a tropical garden with palm trees and a mural wall.
  • Woman holding a fish in her hand at a blue container with water and a water tap in the background.
  • An outdoor scene with a clear blue sky, tropical trees, a colorful mural, and a partially constructed structure around a pool or water feature.
  • Indoor pond with fish, with a blue tarp overhead, brick columns, and a woman walking outside in the background.
  • A large fish with dark gray and blue coloration is in a round concrete pool filled with light greenish water, against a background of stone and brick walls.

From Exploitation to Conservation

During the 1980s, tens of thousands of East Pacific olive ridley sea turtles were killed each year along the coast of Oaxaca to supply markets for leather, oil, eggs, and meat. At the time, commercial harvesting was widespread and posed a serious threat to turtle populations.

The Turning Point for Sea Turtle Protection

In 1990, Mexico took a major step toward conservation by banning sea turtle harvesting nationwide. The former slaughterhouse in Mazunte was later transformed into the CMT, which today serves as a hub for research, education, and conservation dedicated to protecting sea turtles and marine ecosystems.

This marked a pivotal shift for the region, from exploitation to protection, and helped lay the foundation for the conservation efforts that continue along the Oaxacan coast today.

  • A person in casual clothing and a hat standing on a rocky shoreline, fishing with a rod, and two other people are nearby; behind them is a wall with a grid pattern of round objects, possibly lanterns or decorative lights.
  • Butchers cutting and processing raw meat in a traditional meat market or slaughterhouse setting.
  • A boat on water with three people aboard, carrying a large pile of fish, with one person at the front and two at the back.
  • A person on a boat fishing in a large body of water with mountains in the background and a pink cloudy sky.

Challenges Today

Despite its importance, the CMT faces a growing infrastructure crisis.

Much of the facility was built between 1991 and 1994 and has endured decades of exposure to salt air, hurricanes, tropical storms, and seismic activity. Years of underinvestment have left critical systems in disrepair, and the Center’s iconic aquarium building has been closed due to structural deterioration and safety concerns.

Although the Center welcomes thousands of visitors each year, it has limited ability to reinvest revenue into its own facilities. Like other federally managed protected areas, admission fees are deposited into the federal treasury and later redistributed through centralized budget processes. As a result, infrastructure needs have continued to grow while investment has failed to keep pace.

At the same time, the Center remains a vital resource for wildlife conservation across the region. Its dedicated team of 24 professionals continues to provide care for injured and rescued sea turtles, crocodiles, seabirds, reptiles, marine mammals, and other wildlife despite aging infrastructure and limited resources. Maintaining this work requires veterinary medicines, specialized equipment, filtration systems, seawater pumps, and ongoing maintenance.

While multiple rehabilitation and modernization plans have been announced over the past two decades, many have yet to materialize. Most recently, a joint investment of 20 million pesos was announced by the Government of Oaxaca and CONANP for the Center’s rehabilitation. The announcement was welcomed, though timelines for implementation and details on fund allocation remain uncertain.

The CMT is more than a wildlife rehabilitation center. It is a cornerstone of conservation on the Oaxacan coast and a living symbol of the region’s transition from exploitation to protection. Together, we can help secure the future of an institution that has protected wildlife, educated communities, strengthened local conservation efforts, and inspired environmental stewardship for more than three decades.

Photos courtesy of the CMT
Logo of the Mexican Center of Tortuga in Mazunte, Oaxaca, featuring a green turtle within a circular blue border.