They are soft. They are cuddly. And they are ideal for therapeutic purposes. The residents of the Mana Wedell nursing home in Steglitz, south-west of Berlin, Germany, look forward to the company of three alpacas.
The animals have been kept at the home since August. The initiative came from director Johanna Hormann. "A television report drew my attention to the pretty animals.
YouTube link.
"When I started to let me know in detail about alpacas, I learned that the incredibly well suited for therapeutic purposes and humans to the similarly emphatic are such as dolphins," says Hormann.
The alpacas have their enclosure outside in the garden but every once in a while they come inside the home and cuddle with the elderly residents. They watch TV, take the elevator and provide company. As one of the elderly women in the home said "they are full of love!"
2 comments:
My better half bought me a clay-pigeon shooting lesson. About half-way through I'd finished a box of cartridges, broken the gun and turned around to talk to her. Only to discover (unbeknownst to her, due to all of us wearing ear protectors) an alpaca from a neighbouring field had escaped and crept up to within inches of the back of her head and was just getting ready to eat her hair.
The instructor (who owned them) just proclaimed "Oh that bloody thing! Just give it a bop on the nose!" it was about as tall as she was and so she refrained from bopping anything so vicious, kicky and spitty. I did however manage to struggle my camera out of a pocket and get a shot of two very unimpressed beings staring suspiciously at each other.
Having shared this video with my better half, the part of the video where the lady opens the door to the alpaca standing there will no doubt haunt her dreams this evening.
Hahaha, what a lovely tale! :)
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