Animal-Assisted Therapy

In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid to the fact that animals often are just what the doctor ordered. The beneficiaries of the healing power of animals include children, teens, adults and the aged, whether terminally ill, emotionally disturbed, physically or mentally challenged, isolated and depressed, incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized. While everyone who cares about animals is proud that creatures as diverse as dogs and dolphins, cats and cows are being celebrated for their therapeutic value, some in the animal welfare system worry: Who are these “therapy animals,” anyway? Where do they come from, and to put it bluntly, is there anything in it for them?

It depends. Programs that utilize animals within the broad context of human health and rehabilitation acquire, house, train and maintain their animals in a variety of ways. In some, as you might expect, the animals are viewed more as extensions of patient or inmate treatment than as beings who are worthy of respect and attention to their own unique needs. Where management is more sensitive to animal welfare, this may not be true. And in some remarkable therapeutic settings, the therapy animals are as much in need of rescue or rehab as are the children whose lives they profoundly impact.

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