By Bethany McWilliams
Beyond the shelter’s gate, barks of excitement cascade over the parking lot. The puppies bounce happily around the fence of their play area while the bigger dogs stand against their kennel eager to greet a new face. Walking into the Humane Society’s PetsFurPeople office reveals an unexpected sound. A pair of birds pipe up to join the conversation of workers. The black cage inside the office of executive director, Gayle Helms, reveals a green quaker parrot and a small yellow cockatiel. The childish demeanor of the birds brings a light to the office that inspires her to keep up the difficult work of the shelter.
“They’re like children, when you start talking on the phone or have a conversation, they want to butt in,” Helms said.
Being born and raised in Tyler, Texas, Helms’ passion for animals stemmed from the pets she owned as a child. She loved her animals big and small.
“I had things like guinea pigs and hamsters and white mice, and raccoons and things. I did have a dog and her name was Pepsi,” Helms said. “My mother used to tell me to be careful what I prayed for, because I would pray to make a difference for the animals. So I had no idea that I would end up here, being executive director for an animal shelter.”
Helms started out on the Humane Society’s board for a number of years before becoming the executive director in 1998.
“It’s been nearly 26 years,” Helms said. “I had no idea what I was stepping off into, because I was in radio and television for 30 years prior to that. So it was a different kind of advertising and marketing.” Despite not knowing the tremendous responsibilities she would be taking on, her accomplishments speak for themselves.
“My biggest accomplishment, is that in 2010, we severed our relationships with the city and the county, their animal control, and became a selective admission, no kill shelter,” Helms said.
Before they severed ties, the responsibility of the shelter was to have animal control bring animals to the shelter then either find a home, returning them to their owners or humanely euthanize the animals. “And that’s not what we thought a humane society should be,” Helms said.
A normal day of work for Helms is quite varied from day to day as she tries to find homes for all the incoming pets.
“When you’re dealing with animals and people, you never know what’s going to happen,” Helms said. “We’re finding that people are not adopting right now. And so all the shelters are full. And so it’s just a real challenge for us to try and be able to maintain these animals.”
PetsFurPeople is currently at maximum capacity.
“If we don’t have adoptions, we don’t have openings to help other dogs. So that’s why it’s so important,” Helms said. “People don’t need to go and purchase purebreds, they need to come to a shelter, and get an animal that truly will appreciate and love you unconditionally.”
Helms and her team love the animals as if they were their own family. The satisfaction of animals finding their forever home is well worth their time and effort.
“To pair them in a really good home for the rest of their life is just, it just brings so much joy and so much happiness to us that many times we cry when these animals leave because they are part of our family, but they’re going to now a forever home,” Helms said.
Helms looks forward to the future opportunities and goals of the organization. Medical care is a major concern for taking in new dogs and cats.
“Right now we’re working on developing a medical fund to help the animals that come in that need some sort of special attention, whether it’s to have a dental done, or we just had a little puppy who came in and one of her little ears was missing. And we had another dog come in, and her throat had been slashed,” Helms said. “We’ve spent thousands of dollars on those animals to rehabilitate them. So it’s just very important that people understand that they need to support us in the community or we’re not gonna be here.”
Helms’ next goal is to increase and raise awareness for the adoption of animals in her shelter.
“We are going to start doing some off site adoptions in the future just to raise awareness and hopefully to find homes for some of these animals who’ve been here for a very long time,” Helms said.
Helms works to establish a legacy that will continue to flourish for the community and animals of East Texas.
“It’s really a happy place and if we can just get people out here to PetsFurPeople, just one time, they will see how we really care about these animals,” Helms said. “It’s first and foremost what we’re here for is to find homes for these animals.”
Left to right: Carson and Penny are both adoptable dogs at the Humane Society’s PetsFurPeople shelter.
Left to right: Rose and Missy are also available for adoption. For more information, go to petsfurpeople.org.
Looking for a fur-ever home! These animals are available for adoption.
Browse the PetsFurPeople website to look at the pets available for adoption. Visit or call the shelter to start the adoption process. All animals are spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and health tested.
