Cora Bailey: A hero helping people and pets on the West Rand

When Tendai Mhuru became violent and aggressive, her sister, Irene, knew that there was only one person she could call on for help: Cora Bailey.

“The landlord told me to come get Tendai because she is being violent and breaking things in the house,” said Mhuru, who was in the garden at Bailey’s veterinary clinic in Durban Deep, a former mining town in Roodepoort. “I rushed here because it’s a place of help. I think Cora can help me get an ambulance and take her to the hospital.”

Bailey, who has spent the morning tending sick animals, told Mhuru that an ambulance wouldn’t collect her mentally unstable sister if she doesn’t choose to go voluntarily. “The only way this can be done is through the police, to say that she’s endangering you and herself.” Mhuru nodded, relieved, as Bailey placed a call for emergency assistance.

More than 30 years after Bailey founded the nonprofit, Community Led Animal Welfare (Claw), which provides veterinary health care in impoverished townships and informal settlements on the West Rand, she is often the first person residents call at any sign of trouble — day and night.