This therapy llama is helping vulnerable populations in Oregon get through the pandemic
- A farmer in Oregon is using his pet Caesar the llama as a therapy animal for vulnerable populations during the pandemic.
- Patients at the nursing homes they visit haven't had physical contact with family or friends in months because of the pandemic.
- Llamas and related animals, like alpacas and camels, are also being studied by scientists in the search for antibodies to help humans fight the coronavirus.
Caesar the llama has had a busy few months.
He's been "leading" virtual story time with students, recording birthday videos, and even attending protests near his farm in Jefferson, Oregon.
Caesar is part of a growing trend known as llama therapy, which has become a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable populations, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Caesar's handler, Larry McCool, brings him to nursing homes near his Mystic Llama Farm in Jefferson on a voluntary basis. Many nursing home residents, like the 48 elderly patients at The Oaks at Sherwood Park, haven't had in-person contact with family or friends for four months.
"They feel neglected and left out," McCool told Business Insider Today. "When they see Caesar, their eyes just light up."
Although social distancing measures prevent Caesar and McCool from physically entering the nursing home, merely seeing the creature through the window makes a difference in their day, one staff member said.
"It just brings them so much joy to see Caesar," Sharon Alcaraz, the life enrichment director at the nursing home. "And also knowing that the community cares about them, that there's people on the outside that are remembering that they're in there by themselves. It's not every day that they can look up and say, 'Oh my gosh, there's a llama at my window.'"
Llamas like Caesar that are calm and sociable make ideal therapy animals. Around the world, llamas are used to treat people with dementia, children with special needs, and others struggling with mental health illness.
In different labs around the world, researchers are replicating these animals' unique molecules in an effort to boost the human immune response to COVID-19.
Gerald McInerney, a senior lecturer at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, told Reuters that his lab took protein from the virus and gave it to an alpaca named Tyson.
"We were able to look in the immune response in Tyson's cells and find antibodies — these what we call nanobodies, these very, very small antibodies that can bind to the virus protein very tightly," McInerney said. "And we found one that in fact blocks the infection very well."
And though the results so far are very promising, it's still early in the process — a treatment is not expected to be available before the end of 2021.
In the meantime, llamas like Caesar are helping by spreading a little joy.
"Every day I wake up so thankful I see Caesar out in the pasture," McCool said. "Everybody gets to hug a llama, everybody gets to hug Caesar. I get to do it every day. I could not ask for a better life. And I could not ask for a better guy than this guy right here."