Patients find help with therapy donkeys at psychiatric hospital near Paris

NEUILLY-SUR-MARNE, France (AP) — Therapy donkeys are helping patients with mental health conditions recover in a psychiatric hospital unit outside Paris that's unique to France.

The 19th century farm buildings and wooded surroundings are a haven within the Ville-Evrard hospital complex in Neuilly-sur-Marne. On Friday, patients took the five donkeys for a walk and cared for them. Some confidently lifted their hooves to remove dirt. Many ended the session with a hug.

“When you take medication that helps you relax … it’s exactly the same,” said Nathalie, a 60-year-old patient. She and others were identified by their first names only to protect their privacy.

“I’d call it animal medicine,” she said. “It brings relief. You stop thinking about everything else."

Patients attend the sessions free of charge as part of their treatment, which is funded by France’s public health system.

Participants are usually paired with a donkey — Nono, Pitou, Oscar, Manolo or Malraux. Over time, they become familiar with each other’s personalities.

Audrey Seffar, a nurse at the animal therapy unit, said Nathalie's progress after only a few sessions was significant.

“At first, she wouldn’t get out of the cart (provided for people with physical difficulties). But little by little, with encouragement, she did," Seffar said. "The animal serves as a mediator. It’s such an extraordinary one that today she was able to leave the cart and stand beside her donkey."

Another patient, Jérôme, 52, said the program helps reduce loneliness.

“Talking with people, taking part in activities I wouldn’t normally do, it helps me in my daily life,” he said.

He added: “It helps you break away from the routine of treatment and medication. Staying at home isn’t good for me.”

The first donkeys arrived at Ville-Evrard hospital in 2016 as part of a project launched by Ermelinda and François Hadey.

Ermelinda, a nurse specializing in psychiatry, strongly believed in animal therapy benefits and thought donkeys, known for their calm and social nature, would be perfect. Her husband learned how to train donkeys for therapy work. Some of the animals were adopted through shelters after experiencing neglect or mistreatment.

“A donkey is very intelligent. It understands things very quickly, but you have to explain slowly,” François Hadey said. “Donkeys are calm, serene animals that are generally close to people. Once they’re involved in these interactions, they connect very well with patients. They’re emotional sponges.”

Since 2022, the animal therapy program has had official status as a health care unit in the hospital, allowing it to employ three full-time nurses. Volunteers with a nonprofit group help care for the animals.

The program has expanded to include guinea pigs, chickens, doves, goats, turtles and rabbits. Sessions are tailored to people’s needs and preferences, and smaller animals can be brought to hospital rooms.

Alicia Fabi, an 18-year-old nursing student, said the activity gives patients a chance to leave the hospital environment.

“Every time we come back from the activity, they say they feel good, calm and relaxed, and that they enjoyed the outing. That’s really positive,” she said.

Walking together also allows patients and health workers to develop a deeper relationship.

“We talk about many different things, their illness, their lives and just about everything else. We don’t focus only on the illness because we don’t want them dwelling on it all the time,” Fabi said.

Health workers say the sessions are designed as therapeutic interventions for living with anxiety, depression, autism, schizophrenia or other conditions. Staff said they can help improve emotional regulation, communication, social interaction and self-esteem.

“Everything we do with the animals allows us to work with the patient,” Ermelinda Hadey said. “We work on feeding the animal, which helps us address the patient’s own eating habits. We work on the animal’s hygiene, and by mirror effect, we work on the patient’s hygiene as well.”

Many patients take intensive treatments, including antipsychotic medications or sedatives, which can make it difficult to find the motivation to participate in activities, she said. That’s where the relationship to donkeys and other animals play a role, she stressed.

“It does not replace a doctor or a medical prescription, but it can help patients regain confidence and a sense of self-worth," Hadey said.

She said more scientific evaluation is needed. They would like animal therapy to be formally recognized by the psychiatric community as a complementary form of care.

“To do that, we need research. We have plenty of accounts from patients ... Caregivers who accompany them see the benefits every day as well. But doctors have so many other responsibilities that they don’t necessarily witness it firsthand,” she said.

At the end of Friday’s session, as patients chatted, a nurse summed up the program’s appeal: “Donkeys are my best colleagues.”

Patients with mental health conditions, assisted by staff members and volunteers, participate in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Patients with mental health conditions assisted by staff members and volunteers participate in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

A patient with mental health conditions participates in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

A patient with mental health conditions participates in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

A patient with mental health conditions cleans a donkey's eyes during the animal therapy session at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Protesters have been moved along and excavation machinery has been moved in as work on the main stadium for the 2032 Olympics got under way Monday, almost five years after Brisbane was awarded rights to the Summer Games.

The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority took ownership of the inner city Victoria Park site from the Brisbane City Council at midnight, and temporary perimeter fencing was erected ahead of construction on the 3.6 billion Australian dollar ($2.6 billion) Brisbane Olympics main stadium.

There was a heavy security presence again Monday, days after Queensland state police arrested five people and council staff began dismantling protest camp sites on the parklands.

A small group of activists was relocated from inside to outside the perimeter fencing in the parklands just after midnight.

Queensland state Premier David Crisafulli turned the first sod, and said the public had been urging his government to “get on with it.”

“It’s game on — we have a plan to deliver for the 2032 Games and beyond, and today, we get cracking on delivering it,” he told a news conference. “Victoria Park will be the beating sport, cultural and green heart of Brisbane, and a place all Queenslanders can be proud of.”

Crisafulli said he respected the rights of protesters to have a say, but not between “excavators and bulldozers.”

Indigenous and environment groups have protested the construction of a major stadium in the heritage-listed park close to downtown Brisbane, saying the green space and culturally significant sites would be lost for future generations in the state capital.

Crisafulli said after construction, more than two-thirds of Victoria Park would be green public space.

Hundreds of protesters had gathered at the site on Sunday afternoon but with dozens of police at the park entrance and patrolling the area early Monday, it was a quiet start on a cool but sunny first winter morning in Australia.

Save Victoria Park organiser Andrea Lunt told Australian Associated Press that protesters were considering their next steps.

“This space with its heritage and its history is such a special asset for Brisbane,” she said. “We’re not an anti-Olympics group, but we don’t support the Olympics in its current form."

The International Olympic Committee last year backed the Queensland government’s 2032 venue plan after several false starts, saying the Brisbane Games were “on the right path.”

Queensland state won the bid to host the 2032 Games and has backing from Australia's government for the construction of venues.

The state government last year exempted Victoria Park from heritage, environmental and planning laws, and has converted it to freehold land. Indigenous, heritage and environmental groups have challenged the construction plans.

Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said he had received 10 applications seeking to protect a significant Aboriginal site “under threat of injury or desecration” at the park.

Watt said he has declined some applications but is still considering others.

He told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that cultural heritage declarations were not designed to stop the project, but instead to set out what must be done “to preserve or protect an area from being injured in some way or desecrated in some way."

Five people were arrested Friday after protesters were taken by surprise in camps set up at the site that until Sunday was home to a golf driving range, a popular wedding and events venue, and open parklands.

The five were taken into custody for obstructing and assaulting police officers, a police spokesperson said, adding that one of those arrested was later released without charge.

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Protestors stand near a line of police as a camp site is dismantled at the construction site of the Brisbane Olympics Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, Friday, May 29, 2026. (Darren England/AAP Image via AP)

Police at the entry to Victoria Park as preparatory earthworks get underway for the 2032 Olympic Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, June 1, 2026. (Darren England/AAP Image via AP)

Earthmoving machinery is seen being brought into Victoria Park for preparatory earthworks at the site of the 2032 Olympic Stadium at Brisbane's Victoria Park, Australia, Monday, June 1, 2026. (Darren England/AAP Image via AP)

Protesters camp just outside the security fencing for the 2032 Olympic Stadium site at Brisbane's Victoria Park, Australia, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/John Pye)

Protesters react at the site of the 2032 Olympic Stadium at Brisbane's Victoria Park, Australia, Monday, June 1, 2026. (Darren England/AAP Image via AP)