Animal Assisted Therapy for Special Needs Children

The Zoo and the Assisted Animal Therapy Program continue to work with families and children who have been internally displaced from their homes in the north and south of Israel because of the ongoing war.

Vee Vee, the AAT Program Director reports:

It is a privilege to be able to use the skills we have developed over the years to help these evacuees. I am finding that in general the families from the north are extremely attached and at one with nature. They really miss it. Being at the Zoo gives them a way to reconnect to nature. Feeding the giraffes always gives people a feeling of empowerment, especially during times with so much uncertainty.

She also shared a special story about an experience she had with one of the mothers:

A mother was bitten twice by scorpion while her family was sleeping in their bomb shelter up in their village in the North.

After she told us about it, we asked if she would like to meet a scorpion up-close in order to help her overcome her fears and the traumatic experience. When she first saw it she moved back and almost started crying. It brought her back to those awful times. But she overcame her fear and was so happy and proud of herself when she was able to little by little touch it’s tail. 

And of course it was great for her kids to see that she was able to deal with and overcome her fear.

The Zoo has now been re-opened to the general public. We were closed for a total of 22 days since the start of the war in Israel and partially open for 13 days but with number restrictions according to the directives of the Home Front Command.

While the Zoo was closed to the general public, we were allowed to host small groups of evacuees who were being hosted at Jerusalem hotels for free (through the coordination of the Jerusalem Municipality). We hosted on average some 1000 evacuees a day and we are continuing to host them.

As part of the guided visits of evacuees at the Zoo, we were able to integrate small group sessions of our Assisted Animal Therapy Program into the families' visits.

Led by the head of the AAT Program, Vee-Vee Merlin-Knopp, and held at the Animal House classrooms, these sessions are aimed at promoting experience sharing and helping with the trauma these adults and children have experienced.

The hosting of the evacuee groups without charge required additional expenditure: we had to have extra guides per group in case of air raid sirens which would require swift evacuation of the groups to the safe areas and bomb shelters at the Zoo and we also provided them with refreshments (water, hot drinks and cake/biscuits).

Currently, we are offering a reduced ticket price for evacuees and for general visitors.