Recently, three women were walking to dinner through Crown Heights, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, when they noticed a bright green bucket on the sidewalk with a handwritten sign reading, “FREE.”
Curious, the women peeked inside the bucket and found something they never expected.
“They were shocked and dismayed to find live turtles in it,” Bronwen Sommer, who owns Beastie Bestie, a Brooklyn pet supply store, and founded Good Home, a nonprofit rescue attached to the store, told The Dodo.
The women grabbed the bucket containing all six turtles and began looking for help. As fate would have it, they were down the block from Beastie Bestie. When they arrived with the animals, Sommer was surprised. Though turtles aren’t her forte, the animal lover was happy to do what she could.
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“While I don’t have turtle experience, I do have a lot of experience handling urgent situations with cats,” Sommer said. “I connected with our vet for some top-level advice and got the turtles home and into a tub filled with water. Then I reached out on social media and gratefully started receiving a lot of very helpful advice and support.”
Sommer was glad to see the turtles’ demeanor begin to shift as they adapted to their temporary home.
“Turtles definitely feel stress, and being stacked in a bucket like that must have been terrible for them,” Sommer said. “But they are resilient creatures, and once they had access to water and a snack, they bounced back and seemed to be OK, swimming around and hanging out together.”
Within 48 hours, Sommer managed to get five of the turtles into experienced foster homes. The sixth turtle is still at Good Home, where he will live for the time being in a comfortable tank with all the amenities he needs. Eventually, the turtles will move to an established turtle rescue center.
“One of the people I was connected to for support runs a turtle rescue in Florida,” Sommer said. “The plan is to transport them there when the weather is warmer. That is, if they don’t get adopted!”
Sommer is so grateful for the foster parents who stepped up to help the turtles. As an animal rescuer, she encourages anyone interested in fostering to take the leap and be a hero for an animal in need.
Sommer is also thankful for the women who found the turtles and did the right thing, allowing the helpless animals a chance at a bright future.
“If those three young women hadn’t taken it upon themselves to do something, even though they had no resources, those turtles would have perished in the cold,” Sommer said. “They are heroines.”
To help other animals like these turtles, you can donate to Good Home. 
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