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Showing posts from April 14, 2013

Therapy Llamas...And Other Bad Ideas

Oh, sure. It sounds  sweet: Therapy Llama Visits Children at St. Jude. Coverage of that might even include a picture of bandaged or bed-ridden toddler with his arms wrapped around a long, hairy neck--the perfect photo op. In fact there is exactly that picture, floating around in cyberspace, attached to an article explaining the benefits of therapy llamas. I want to be charmed--llamas are  cute, and I'm all for cheering up a sick kiddo. But honestly, I can't get past what a bad idea it is. Llamas are big. They're hairy. They're germy. They spit. They fight--brutally actually--with those huggable necks. I'll be the first to admit they're cute, and I can understand the temptation. They're trainable enough to forced into the drudgery of servitude (or is that alpacas?), and to stand still long enough to be woven into a lovely sweater (that might be alpacas too...); wandering around the sterile corridors of a children's hospital ward, then, shouldn't b