Elderly benefit from mini zoo experience at their Chesterfield care home

A DERBYSHIRE care home became a mini zoo of weird and wonderful creatures during an animal assisted therapy session.

A corn snake, tarantula, tortoise, bearded dragon, hedgehog, guinea pig, and stick insects were among the menagerie brought to Springbank House Care Home, on Ashgate Road, Chesterfield.

Becky Jackson, from Animal Encounters Derbyshire, brought the creatures for an interactive and therapeutic animal handling experience.

Each animal was taken around the residents in turn, who had the opportunity to hold and stroke them, learn facts from Becky and ask questions.

While some proved popular, including the hedgehog and guinea pig, the Chilean rose hair tarantula, named Ruby, got a mixed reaction.

Resident Roy Perry, 84, said: “Oh no, I’m not holding a spider.” Whereas Ian Shepherd, 68, volunteered to have Ruby placed on his head.

After her turn holding several of the animals, Davina Askey, 85, said: “What a wonderful experience.”

The care home’s activities coordinator, Jessica Debono, helped organise the visit and her three-year-old daughter, Nova, took part in the session.

Jessica said: “Nova wanted to come and see the animals but she also helped the residents stroke the fluffy guinea pigs.

“Everyone had a fabulous time. Our thanks go to Becky from Animal Encounters. We hope to see her and her mini zoo again in future.”

Animal assisted therapy sessions have shown to be highly beneficial for elderly care home residents, according to the home manager of Springbank House Care Home, Emily Barlow.

She said: “These sorts of sessions have a massive positive impact on our elderly residents. Just watching them interact with the animals and hearing them talk about their experience shows the power of activities like this.

“Interacting with the animals, seeing creatures they’ve never seen before, and learning new facts all help to visibly boost everyone’s mood and wellbeing, while reducing feelings of stress, loneliness, and anxiety.

“We will definitely be running more animal assisted therapy sessions in future.”