-1730888646.jpg "Kidney donation while alive: “It was an act of love that I did for my sister”")
In Spain, a project called “Doctor Donkey” has been set up to appease nursing staff, affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.
It is the Andalusian association El Burrito Feliz (the Happy Donkey) who decided to offer this therapy to caregivers. Launched at the end of June, the project aims to help caregivers traumatized and exhausted by the pandemic which has killed more than 33,000 people in Spain and infected a million people.
It is the therapeutic forest baths in Japan, used to fight against stress and depression, which gave Luis Bejarano, president of the association, the idea of this asinotherapy. A project he thought to stop in November. The resumption of the epidemic, however, pushes him to consider an extension.
Meeting with donkeys to relieve stress and anxiety
After getting to know the donkey, the caregivers who take part in the project follow a route in the forest with a guide. When they feel confident, they can return to the forest alone with the animal and stay there as long as they want.
Caregivers can also enjoy a “donkey bath”, meaning spending time surrounded by equines in an enclosure, just to pet them and hand them carrots.
The benefits of pet therapy
Numerous studies have shown that animal therapy, therapy with animals, stimulates the production of oxytocin, a hormone associated with pleasure and reduces the levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Used for several years, pet therapy has already made it possible to support people with Alzheimer’s disease, people suffering from mental or behavioral disorders and more generally stressed people. Among the best-known forms of animal therapy, we find equitherapy (with horses) and purring therapy, a therapy based on the purring of the cat, whose low frequencies soothe us just as much as he does.
