For Pet's Sake

Sharri Boyett works hard to limit number of homeless animals in Hays County

By Jeannie Yamakawa

Many are all-too-familiar with the typical five-day-a-week American lifestyle: Wake up, drive the kids to school, and languish in a cubicle from nine to five.

But not Sharri Boyett. From the corner office in her living room to the outskirts of Hays County, Boyett works a weekly overtime to provide financial services to underprivileged pet owners and reduce the number of homeless and euthanized animals in Hays County.

As the director of Pet Prevent a Litter (PALS) of Central Texas, Boyett’s job may be unconventional, but it makes for an even more interesting lifestyle.

A typical day in the Boyett household entails answering a never-silent phone, filing and sending vouchers for pet owners, replying to e-mails from community officials, parenting and home schooling a 10-year-old, tending to countless rescued shelter pets, faxing grant applications and beseeching other financial help for PALS.

“It’s not unusual for people to stop by my house for pet food, fliers, anything having to do with pets — people show up when I’m still in my pajamas,” she said. “My living room is PALS headquarters.”

Sounds like a hectic home life, but it’s nothing compared to the fieldwork involved in directing a community-wide organization as a profession. The family van takes on many miles transporting Boyett and PALS materials all over Hays County and beyond. Local veterinarians and nurses are called friends, and the animal shelters are like home for Boyett and son, Jason. Boyett also attends many community events as an advocate for PALS and has publicly spoken before the Hays County Commissioner’s Court and several times at various city council meetings.

PALS even sponsors a few of its own community events every year. Pet Fest, a comprehensive carnival-like event for all animal lovers will take place on Sept. 29.

“Pet Fest is in its sixth year now,” Boyett said. “It is something that everyone enjoys but will raise significant money for PALS. Pet Fest combined with gracious support from the business community has kept us alive over the years. But we need volunteers for Pet Fest starting now!”

While they may be humans’ best friends, pets furnish an overpopulation problem that is often overlooked, Boyett says. According to PALS literature, in just three years, one pair of cats producing two litters per year with less than three kittens surviving per litter can generate 376 offspring, and that total rises to 11,606,077 in nine years. There are seven times as many puppies and kittens born each day in the U.S. than humans, and 12 million of those end up in animal shelters by the end of the year.

Of that 12 million, only a third are adopted, which leaves eight million pets to meet a fate nobody wants to imagine.

To combat the problem, Boyett and her PALS volunteers work closely with local veterinarians and often with the EmanciPet Mobile Spay and Neuter Clinic to deliver deeply discounted or free services for pets in Hays County. The motto is “one litter is too many—just fix it!” and indeed they try.

From Feb. 27 through March 1, PALS sponsored Spay Day, teaming up with five local vets and EmanciPet to provide 113 spays and neuters for Hays County pets. Typically the procedures could cost a few hundred dollars, but Boyett and the PALS volunteers worked carefully for months to organize the event. PALS also held a clinic for Texas State students in the name of Spay Day, which sterilized 31 pets in mid-February.

When possible, PALS sponsors free monthly sterilization clinics and in the meantime generates vouchers for any Hays County pet in need of financial assistance. Many of the pet owners who receive assistance from PALS also receive personal assistance from Boyett.

“There have been many times I’ve had to drop off and pick up people’s pets for them,” she said. “But when I see people at the clinics I am able to help — old people, single moms on welfare, cancer survivors. It’s just very rewarding.”

The lifestyle is quite a change for Boyett, who holds a master’s degree in business administration and boasts an impressive resume with many large companies in the Baltimore and the Central Texas area.

“If you would have told me years ago I’d be doing this, I never would’ve believed you,” Boyett said.

Boyett originally took over an organization called Friends of the San Marcos Animal Shelter which evolved into PALS around 2000 when Emmet McCoy made a donation to open the new San Marcos Animal Shelter with much thanks to Boyett for championing the cause. She took on the endeavor as a tribute to her late husband, Victor, when their son was just a baby.

“After he died, I saw it as my God-given opportunity to bring life back to the universe. My son’s been one of my best helpers — he’s been with this since right after he could stand up.”

Ten years and hundreds of saved pets later, Jason tags along with his mom almost everywhere.

“Jason’s made up his mind he wants to be a vet someday,” Boyett said.

This is part of the reason she has chosen to home school him —“how many other kids do you know who have witnessed emergency c-sections at the vet’s, or are welcome in the office of the mayor?”

Jason soaks in many experiences that would otherwise be foreign to a 10-year-old. On Spay Day, Jason helped to fill antibiotic syringes for the pets who were fixed at the San Marcos Animal Shelter, and most recently completed a science project on sterilization and equine gelding.

“He learns much more on-site than any classroom could ever teach him,” she said. “The most valuable lesson he is learning is how to give back to the community.”

However, when a classroom-style atmosphere is needed, whiteboards and books line the walls of the family dining room.

Financially, however, the lifestyle option is not such a clean-cut decision. “At times it’s difficult to support a family with the income from a non-profit organization.” Still, she sticks with it. Boyett is also self-employed as a successful bookkeeper and a marketing consultant to make up for the fact that most of the time spent on PALS is volunteer work.

“It’s true I could me making much more money but this is a choice I have made.” She has been offered full-time positions with companies but declined at the last minute. “I can’t stomach completely giving up my baby PALS — it’s become like another child for me.”

“Jason, time to feed the munchkins!” she proclaims. “My dream is that Jason’s generation in America will think about pet overpopulation as we do slavery — a problem of the past…that because of combined efforts, pet homelessness some day will not exist.”

At the end of the day, she still finds time to spend with all of her own pets. “My first memory is of a dog sticking its nose through my crib bars. And now, it’s still all for the animals.”

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