125 பிராணிகளிடத்தில் இரக்கம் தேவையா?-அனுபவம் அனிமல் தெரபி

இது ஒரு உண்மை அனுபவம் நீங்களே பார்த்து நல்ல தீர்ப்பா சொல்லுங்க

இது இன்றைய பூனே டைம்ஸ் நியூஸ் - அனிமல் தெரபி
Statutory warning: pets good for your health

Pune: Recently, when ‘Tyson’ visited a couple of HIV/AIDS affected children to spend a fun-filled day with them at the city-based NGO Manavya, the otherwise reluctant children shed their emotional and social inhibitions to play with him just like any other kid of their age. For, Tyson was unlike any other friends they have ever had — he did not judge them and their condition.

For one thing, Tyson is a dog, who is specially trained in animal therapy. Animal therapy, a process through which psychologists, paediatricians and other medical practitioners use animals as a medium of healing, has been catching on in India for the last few years.

One of the famous examples of animal therapy is that of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, whose Maltipoo named Sukhi was largely responsible for helping him overcome the health problems he had had last year.

Clinical psychologist Minal Lonkar Kavishwar has been into pet therapy for over four years and was one of the first to introduce it in India. Explaining exactly why pet therapy works, Kavishwar says, “Unlike human beings, animals do not judge us according to our deeds, financial status or anything else. Their unconditional acceptance fulfils our primal requirement for love. This is what has a positive psychological impact on affected people.” Kavishwar says she has seen pet therapy working wonders for mentally-challenged children, patients of depression and cancer and even disaster-affected people.

This was something that prodded her to start animal therapy for cancer patients at the Ruby Hall Cancer Centre here with Kiara, a one-yearold Golden Retriever, who is a trained therapy dog. The project kicked off two weeks ago.

Says Kavishwar: “Animals can sense changing moods of a person even before he/she can realise it. The strong intuition that animals possess, coupled with the special training imparted to them, makes them very sensitive to patients’ needs.”