Have an old bra you no longer need? Don’t throw it out just yet—it could be used to save a turtle’s life.
It may sound strange that animal groups are trying to collect women’s underwear, but that’s the crazy-but-true solution rescuers have developed. The clasps in everyday bras can be used to save turtles whose shells have been cracked.
It’s the surprising strategy that has the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, in Indian Trail, North Carolina, going viral with their recent call for donations.
“It acts like a little fixator,” Keenan Freitas at the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue tells WBTV. “It’s the eyelets that we need.”
Hey Everyone!! We are just overwhelmed with people offering to mail us clasps etc. I think we have easily responded…
Posted by Carolina Waterfowl Rescue on Saturday, June 29, 2019
The idea has been utilized by several wildlife organizations, including Central MS Turtle Rescue and Wildthunder Wildlife. A turtle’s cracked shell can be repaired with wire, fastened by the bra clips.
“You basically wire the shell back together,” Freitas says. “It’s just these little ingenious things that people have created in the past, that we can use today to help animals out.”
Freitas says that injured turtles are a common occurrence, especially when it rains and the turtles travel to mate and find themselves in trouble: “80 percent of them are hit by cars,” he told WBTV. “The other five percent are hit by boats, the remaining are environmental.”
The Carolina Waterfowl Rescue post has attracted attention, with 1.5 thousand shares, nearly $500 in donations and many users promising to send their clasps. To be clear, the organization doesn’t need whole bras, just the clasps. They clarify that if you have a new, wearable bra that you don’t need, you’d be better off donating it to a thrift store or shelter.
You can also order the clips on Amazon. But if you happen to have an old bra lying around ready to be thrown out, why not recycle it for a good cause?
“You can recycle something that would go into a landfill,” Freitas told WBTV. “And I mean, they’re helping a turtle. Who wouldn’t want to help a turtle?”
In fact, the campaign was so successful that Carolina Waterfowl Rescue now has more clasps than it can handle. They wrote in a July 2 Facebook post that they’ve been overwhelmed with requests, and now hope that people interested in the story simply make a much-needed donation in lieu of mailing bra clasps.
“Please just donate the money you planned to spend on shipping,” the rescue wrote. “If everyone did this the turtles would never want for anything again.”
We are just overwhelmed with people offering to mail us clasps etc. I think we have easily responded to ten thousands people and we just can't keep up with the volume coming in. Please take a few minutes to read through some of the post as most of the questions are answered here already. I have a feeling we will have way more clasps than we can use now. We have so many other things we really need to help with the turtles so if I can ask a huge favor. Please just donate the money you planned to spend on shipping. If everyone did this the turtles would never want for anything again. We help so many animals here and our donations have been really down lately. Here is a link for a $3 donationPaypal.me/waterfowlrescue/3Or a $5 donationPaypal.me/waterfowlrescue/5Since people are willing to spend this amount on postage it would make more sense to just let us buy food and medications that they need and pay the power bill to keep their turtle room cozy.If you would like to shop for the turtles instead here is a link to our wish list of items that we still need to help with the turtleshttp://a.co/9xKpSS3 Don’t forget to use Amazon smile when you shop and choose Carolina Waterfowl Smile.amazon.comThank You for your support!
Posted by Carolina Waterfowl Rescue on Tuesday, July 2, 2019
The story is a reminder of the important work rescue organizations are doing every day, and the small ways you can get involved.
Maybe you don’t happen to have a bra clasp ready do donate (if you do, it’s worth doing some research to see if it could be of use to your local rescue. They’re pretty set in Carolina though) but there are always little ways you can help animals in need, even if it’s making a small donation to a rescue.
Share this story to spread the word!
