Donate to Offer Support to Injured Turtles

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turtle shell repaired with bra eyelets

UPDATE: This Carolina Waterfowl Rescue has now been overwhelmed with clasp donations. Head over to their Facebook Page to find out how you can donate in other ways.  

This sounds turtle-y crazy, but it’s true!

The Carolina Waterfowl Rescue in Charlotte, NC, is using metal clasps from old bra straps others donate to repair the shells of injured turtles. The rescue center regularly assists in the recovery of turtles with injuries caused by automobiles, lawnmowers, and boats.

Rescuers have experienced great success with this method of shell repair through a combination of glue, tape, wire, and metal hooks and eyelets from discarded bras.

Once the metal clasps have been attached with adhesive, the broken shell can be wired back together. When it’s time for the turtle to return to the wild, the adhesive is easily removed. Then the clasps pop right off and the shell is good as new. Time to shell-ebrate! 🎉🐢


ends of bra straps with metal clasps

Here’s how to donate your bra to help injured sea turtles:

Old bra donations can be sent to:

Carolina Waterfowl Rescue
P.O. Box 1484
Indian Trail, NC 28079

They ask that you clip off both ends of the strap and send only the parts with the metal hooks and eyelets attached.

Did you dismantle your old bras for the turtles? Replace them with a great deal from Victoria’s Secret!

Join The Discussion

Comments 36

  1. Summer

    This is amazing!

  2. Kristine

    If you read their post on their FaceBook page, they have been a little overwhelmed with the number of clasps already sent to them and are asking for people to help with other things if they really want to help the turtles such as a PayPal donation or a purchase from something on their Amazon wish list:
    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 donation
    Paypal.me/waterfowlrescue/3

    Or a $5 donation
    Paypal.me/waterfowlrescue/5

    Since 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 turtles

    https://a.co/9xKpSS3

    Don’t forget to use Amazon smile when you shop and choose Carolina Waterfowl
    Smile.amazon.com

    Thank You for your support!

    • A

      I think you should probably update this post with new information. Your site gets a lot of traffic and just posting this could end up overwhelming them even more.

      • Tig

        Obviously overwhelmed

    • Tig

      Why are they not updating their site? Shameful

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      Thanks so much for bringing that to our attention! Checking on that now!

      • Madi

        I thought your site was fine. Also a good way to get the word out. Some people like to complain about everything.

  3. Mrs BK

    Love this ❤️

  4. Amanda

    Thank you so much for posting about this. That is truly amazing. There are so many animals in this world in need of help and it’s amazing how the act of kindness from so many can help. I donated $3 to them. I know it’s not much but it’s all I could do now and I hope it helps them 🙂

    • Lori

      Amanda, ANY donation is helpful and important! Thank you for helping their cause.

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      How sweet! You’re very welcome, Amanda!

  5. Jackie

    Thank you hip2save for posting this. Please keep posts like this coming 💕. There are so many animals in need and I love it when you guys help bring awareness when you post things like this. Love you guys and the animals in need are very thankful also 🐢🐝🦉🐥🐛🐴🐞🐬🦜🐾

    • Jackie

      Btw we saved a turtle like the one on your post just the other day. I think because we have so much flooding with all the rain we had that some of these turtles are loosing their homes and are roaming the roads more than usual. If you can, and if it’s save for you, please stop and save them if you see them trying to cross the roads. So many people just run over them on purpose and that is just so sad.

      • Suzanne

        Thank you for being kind and saving turtles! I always stop too. It is so sad that people swerve to actually hit them. A guy in a nearby town builds turtle ramps out of rubber to help them get over curbs.

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      You bet! Thanks so much for the sweet feedback!

  6. Lolie

    This awesome!

  7. TWood

    They are no longer needed clasps. Please update post

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      Thanks for the heads up! I have added an update to the post!

  8. Suzanne

    Even though they don’t need any right now, thank you for posting this! I always stop to help turtles cross the road…even snapping turtles. I was a veterinary nurse for 18 years so anything to help animals, even in the smallest way is much appreciated. There are many things that we use everyday that can be donated and repurposed for animals in need. I.E. mascara wands are used for grooming and cleaning small wildlife. Thanks for all you do H2S!

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      You’re welcome, Suzanne! How sweet that you could help a turtle cross the road! My daughter and I helped a mama duck and her babies cross a road last week. They were SO cute!

  9. Pat

    That is a picture of a box turtle which lives in the woodlands.
    I am impressed with the use of bra hooks to repair shells in sea turtles.
    Good for you folks to help out the cause.

  10. Ash

    I volunteer for a marine rescue. These guys are for sure land turtles not sea turtles. Still awesome to see so many people looking to help! As far as helping sea turtles(kind of my passion in life) cutting back on plastic garbage can go a long way. Sea turtles often confuse plastic bags for jellyfish and can get into serious trouble from things like straws and one time use floss picks. Also if you live in a coastal nesting area be sure to keep your lights low or off. If you come across a sea turtle on the beach please call your local rescue for guidance. 🐳🐬🐠🐟🐋🐡Thanks for helping our wildlife Hip2save!

  11. Mollie

    Could there please be a post on Dr. Jeff, Rocky Mountain Vet or Viallobos Pets and Parolees? These shows can be found on The Animal Planet Channel.

  12. Tammy

    Thank you for posting, love that you can post this and help out the animals. 💕

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      You’re welcome, Tammy!

  13. Tig

    Good lord. Please for the love of god UPDATE your site now!

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      Thanks for taking the time to comment! An update has been added to the post!

  14. Faith

    Too bad there wasn’t something to donate to help save unborn human babies!!

    • Jennifer

      Agreed

    • Mella

      Sure there is. Planned parenthood. They offer free contraceptives to women.

    • Joy

      You can support the ACA and Planned Parenthood if you’d like to do that. Both provide free birth control.

    • Amymae1100

      Turtles.

  15. Marie

    This was a cool post, even if it wasn’t initially researched to the fullest I suppose. I’m sorry some people are bullies. Most of us can see you were trying to help.

  16. Joy

    Great post! Even though the rescue now has more than enough clasps it also serves as a great reminder to be on the look out for critters on the road. Thanks!!

    • Amber (Hip Sidekick)

      SO true! You’re welcome, Joy!

  17. Faith

    Actually planned parenthood kills babies NOT saves them!!!

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