Therapy alpacas used to lift spirits of people with dementia in UK care home

"They are such an enchanting animal with a gentle nature. They lean forward and touch your face with their noses. We call them alpaca kisses."

Alpaca mania is well and truly upon us. Open Instagram at any given time and you're likely to be inundated with pictures of the quirky looking creatures. With good reason, alpacas are now being used for the purposes of animal therapy. Dogs, cats and horses we've certainly heard of to help alleviate feelings of depression and anxiety, but alpacas are a new one to us. Hadleigh Nursing Home, a care home in Suffolk are now using "alpaca therapy" to calm and lift the mood of residents living with dementia. The care home avails of alpacas belonging to Jo Bridge who keeps a herd of 60 alpacas at Clay Hill Farm, in Wattisham. She has had alpacas since 2012 and describes them as being very sweet natured:

"They are such an enchanting animal with a gentle nature. They lean forward and touch your face with their noses. We call them alpaca kisses."

For Jo it was "love at first sight" and she first thought of the benefits of using them as a therapy animal during one special alpaca walk:

"We host farm visits and alpaca walks and it was when we entertained a group of people with special needs that we noticed alpacas’ remarkable therapeutic impact. "We were told one lady did not talk very much and might not even get out of the car. In fact, she had her carers in tears as she happily walked with an alpaca and chatted away."

And the positive impact on the residents of Hadleigh Nursing Home was immediate, says Clair Perks, the home’s activities coordinator:

"It really lifts the mood of people living with dementia. One of our residents, Alfred Wright, who is normally not very expressive, sat bolt upright when he encountered one of the alpacas for the first time and said, ‘darling, you have made my evening’."

Now, we're just wondering how we can pitch a therapy alpaca day at work...