TAMPA, Fla. — A Bay area woman is dedicating almost all of her time to rescuing injured birds and other animals. Shelley Vickery leads an organization called Birds in Helping Hands.

Vickery said she came up with the idea for the organization after working at the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores. People would bring injured birds to the facility, but she felt there were not enough people to go out and pick up injured animals.

“This is actually duck food. And this is going to bring all the turtles over,” said Vickery on a recent day as she was at an apartment complex pond in Largo. Her goal was to catch an elusive turtle that had a hook stuck in its mouth.

“Yes. Bait him over with the food. Try to get on the top of my net,” she said. Then her plan was to quickly lift the net and to take the captured turtle to a facility that could care for him. That turtle never showed up.

Vickery’s day is filled with traveling from one place to another to pick up birds and other animals rescued by residents or her network of 85 volunteers. She also takes countless calls and replies to text messages about animals.

On this day, Vickery was also traveling to a volunteer’s home to pick up a duck that may have been someone’s pet but had been wandering in a neighborhood.

She said Birds in Helping Hands often rescues domesticated ducks that are in danger if they wander away from home or are abandoned by their owners.

“A lot of times when they are out in the wild, and they are not used to that. They are not near ponds. They can’t find water,” she said.

Vickery said if the organization couldn’t find the duck’s owner, then it would be taken to Buckingham Farms in Dover as its new home.

Vickery said rescuing birds and other animals is addicting.

“Absolutely. It’s just so exciting we can rescue these birds,” she said. “Especially the ones that were pets and they don’t know what to do.”