Desperately Needed Vet Services for Dogs and Cats -CLAW

Cora Bailey was asked to rescue the dogs of families who had fled their homes to escape the violence in the shantytowns west of Johannesburg. She was astounded by the plight of pets left abandoned, sick and malnourished, and determined to do something to help.

So Community Led Animal Welfare, or CLAW as it is now known, was born. CLAW’s mission is to improve the welfare of companion animals in townships and the informal settlements that have mushroomed around Johannesburg, including South Africa’s most populous: Gauteng Province.

Free and Low Cost Pet Spay and Neuter Projects

CLAW is an internationally known and well-respected animal welfare organisation, renowned as the pioneer of community based primary animal healthcare in South Africa.  IFAW is proud to support CLAW as a flagship project of its Community Led Animal Welfare programme.

Historically, veterinary clinics and animal welfare support were largely only  found in the former whites-only suburbs of South Africa. Faced by demands to address human welfare issues such as poverty, housing, education and fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, few government resources have addressed veterinary health and animal welfare issues.

CLAW is the only provider of animal healthcare in most of the areas in which it works.  The project focuses on reducing pet populations through sterilisation and providing free basic healthcare, i.e., dipping, deworming and vaccinating the pets of some of South Africa’s poorest people. CLAW also has an excellent education outreach component that teaches responsible pet care to people and children in the areas where it works.

Taking pet care to those who need it most

CLAW’s mobile units – little more than a fold-up table for dispensing medicines, tin-bath for dipping, and a few cages to hold sick animals or those intended for sterilisation – work in 23 townships and informal settlements and provide a regular, consistent clinic service to a client base of about 300,000 pet owners.

CLAW is entirely community based and its full-time staff all hail from the areas it serves, supplemented by a loyal band of volunteers.

CLAW’s work places emphasis on the well-being of animals and their owners, and is so successful in South Africa’s impoverished communities that IFAW is using it as a model to expand its Community Led Animal Welfare programme to other areas of the world.