This was given to me by a friend today, who had visited a recent Mardi Gras parade. His girlfriend found it while randomly scavenging around.
It originally had a red rubber band on it, but that ended up cut and lost, hence the regular rubber band to keep it closed. Thankfully it was never used though.
It is not. They’re for increasing bleed out when hunting to prevent a wounded creature from wandering too far. They’re expensive and help prevent animals from getting away.