A Charlotte-area animal rescue group wants your old bra to help save injured turtles

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - It sounds bizarre, but it’s also true. The clips on the backs of bras can save a turtle.

“It acts like a little fixator, it’s the eyelets that we need,” Keenan Freitas at the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue says.

The group, you could say, is after your unused unmentionables. These are the same people who spend most of their time among a team of injured turtles.

“80 percent of them are hit by cars,” Freitas says. “The other five percent are hit by boats, the remaining are environmental.”

When these sometimes shattered shells come in, they’re not in good shape, and in the summer, there are quite a bit more of them.

“It’s when it rains,” Freitas says. “That’s when they’re moving to lay eggs, so when it rains, we get a ton of turtles in.”

The team repairs the reptiles using some expected instruments like glue, and a little tape.

And, bra clasps.

“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.

The wire that holds the broken portions of shell together is fastened to the turtle with these things that usually might lock together lingerie.

“You basically wire the shell back together,” Freitas says.

It’s affordable for this nonprofit – and sustainable.

“You can recycle something that would go into a landfill,” Freitas says. “And I mean, they’re helping a turtle. Who wouldn’t want to help a turtle?”

Freitas says when it’s time to release the reptiles back into the wild, they wear the glue down a little, the clasps pop right off, and they’re good as new.

Donations can be sent to the Carolina Waterfowl Rescue at P.O. Box 1484 in Indian Trail NC 28079

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