Meet the team

We're animal people

With us, your beloved pet will benefit from professional and modern healthcare as well as receiving an abundance of love, compassion, and respect from all our dedicated staff.

Aside from the excellent veterinary services, we also have a shop that stocks toys, bedding, treats, and high-quality pet food brands, as well as tick and flea treatments and other over-the-counter products.

Villiersdorp Animal Clinic is closely associated with our two sister practices, Grabouw Animal Clinic and Hermanus Animal Hospital, which also runs a smaller practice in Onrus at The Trading Post shopping centre.

These are all under the ownership of Drs Michelle Lawrance and Greg Simpson, allowing us to expand our options available to clients, enlarge our area of service, and provide continuity of treatment should you travel with your pet to these towns and surrounds for the weekend.

Meet the team below… Click or tap on a photo.

Michelle & Ben

Dr Michelle Lawrance, Owner, Veterinary Surgeon, Animal Person

After more than 20 years in this profession, I can still say that I love getting up to go to work. Growing up in a very medical family, I have developed a special interest in surgery. I really enjoy the journeys I get to walk with owners and their pets. Being accepted into the local community and investing time in people make me happy. When not at work I'm usually up a mountain with my dogs, cycling, planning my next adventure or enjoying precious time with family/friends.

Greg & Columbia

Dr Greg Simpson, Owner, Veterinary Surgeon, Animal Person

I qualified from Onderstepoort and ventured to the UK to gain experience as a small and mixed animal practitioner in a variety of clinical settings. There I attended a talk about development work in Kyrgyzstan, which lead me to conduct an in-country study on their veterinary services. I got pulled back to the UK to assist with controlling the foot and mouth outbreak. My interest in development led to a Master’s in Public Health in Developing Countries and later HIV testing infrastructure research. Too much time behind computers took me back to clinical veterinary science and assisting opening the Grabouw Animal Clinic in 2005. After a few years building the clinic, I completed a Master’s in Wildlife Management and went to do research on human and wildlife conflict in the Limpopo National Park. An encounter with a lecturer from the University of Pretoria led me to start a training clinic for their veterinary students in a village called Hluvukani - an amazing experience as a veterinarian in a setting with diverse infectious diseases, and teaching students to function with limited resources. Working as a lecturer, I completed a PhD in infectious diseases and gained wildlife experience. Yet, my yearning for the Cape led me back to develop a Wildlife Forensic Academy and to grow the Grabouw, Villiersdorp and later Hermanus and Onrus Animal Clinics with Dr Michelle Lawrance. I am passionate about conservation, education and building veterinary clinics that are of value to our society and animals.

Donalyn & Toffee

Donalyn Hennessey, Veterinary Surgeon, Animal Person

As a British child fortunate to have grown up between rural Botswana and the Eastern Cape, Donalyn has always been passionate about Africa and animals. She competed in endurance riding for the Eastern Province while at school, before going on to read for a BSc (Hons) in England, equine dentistry in the USA and finally her veterinary degree at Edinburgh University in Scotland. On completion of her studies, Dr Donalyn returned to South Africa and during a few months practising in Ceres, met her future husband. She worked for 4 years in a mixed rural practice in Graaff Reinet, before joining Villiersdorp Veterinary Clinic as primary veterinarian. After more than 10 years in practice, she still loves being able to spend every day with animals, easing their suffering where she can. For her, one of the privileges of being a rural vet is the ability to be part of a supportive community and to work closely with it to hopefully improve the small world around us. She enjoys spending time with her family, own animals and friends, learning the piano, reading or enjoying the outdoors.

Khanyisa & Domboshawa

Khanyisa Mzimkhulu, Animal Health Technician, Animal Person

Khanyisa joined our team in September 2022 after receiving his diploma as an Animal Health Technician from Tsolo Agriculture and Rural Development Institute in the Eastern Cape. He eagerly and lovingly tends to our patients. To see the change in behaviour during treatment is his favourite part of the job - from sad and sick to happy and healthy.
Although he has no pets of his own, Khanyisa loves cats and thinks of the two practice cats, Napoleon and Josephine, as his own.
He has surprised our team with his green fingers when he shares a harvest from his home garden. On weekends he relaxes by reading and watching movies or going for a run.

Lente & Sassy

Lente Coetzee, Veterinary Surgeon, Animal Person

From a young age Dr Lente’s family frequented national parks in SA, specifically the Kruger. One could argue that this is where her love for animals evolved. Dr Lente, however, believes that God placed that passion in her heart; she was born with it.
She grew up on a game farm in KwaZulu-Natal and her dream of becoming a veterinarian never wavered. Lente spent many an early morning hour bottle-feeding orphaned lambs, kids, calves and wildlife. Dr Lente excelled at high school, becoming head girl and receiving the Dux achiever’s award for all 5 years. She graduated cum laude from Onderstepoort, then served her compulsory community service year in Mogwase, North West in 2023. Here she was privileged to engage with the community, assist in healing the sick and injured animals and teach communal farmers basic animal care and production techniques.
Dr Lente joined Grabouw Animal Clinic in early 2024.

Karen & Napoleon

Karen Swart, Reception, Accounts, and Animal Person

Karen joined our Villiersdorp Animal Clinic team in 2017. Her duties include reception and the accounts department.

She started her career as a qualified special needs teacher. After teaching for several years in the Grabouw area, she joined the clinic.

Karen seeks her balance in nature and one can often find her fishing, foraging or in her organic vegetable patch.