Therapy donkeys draw attention at psychiatric hospital near Paris
Bottom line
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A psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, just outside Paris, is drawing attention for a donkey-assisted therapy program that staff say helps patients with conditions including depression, anxiety, autism, and schizophrenia. The program at Ville-Evrard hospital began in 2016, and since 2022 it has held official status as a healthcare unit, which allows it to employ three full-time nurses. Patients are typically paired with one of five donkeys and take part in walking, grooming, feeding, and hoof care as part of their treatment plan. Staff describe the donkeys as calm, social animals that can help patients engage when medication side effects or psychiatric symptoms make participation difficult. (apnews.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the story is a reminder that animal-assisted interventions are expanding beyond dogs and horses, and that welfare, training, and clinical structure matter if these programs are to gain credibility. A 2025 systematic review found donkey-assisted therapy shows therapeutic potential in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental settings, but also emphasized that the evidence base remains limited and more rigorous research is needed. That gap is especially relevant for veterinarians, behavior professionals, and animal welfare teams that may be asked to support program design, health monitoring, biosecurity, and animal suitability assessments. (frontiersin.org)
What to watch: Whether Ville-Evrard or other centers publish outcomes data that could move donkey-assisted therapy from a compelling local program toward broader clinical recognition. (apnews.com)
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A psychiatric hospital near Paris is using therapy donkeys as part of mental health care, in a program that appears to be unique in France. At Ville-Evrard hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, patients with serious mental health conditions spend structured time walking, grooming, feeding, and caring for donkeys, with staff positioning the work as a complement to, not a replacement for, standard psychiatric treatment. The initiative began in 2016 and gained official status as a hospital healthcare unit in 2022. (apnews.com)
The program was launched by psychiatric nurse Ermelinda Hadey and her husband, François Hadey, who believed donkeys' calm temperament and social behavior could help reach patients in ways conventional care sometimes cannot. According to AP's reporting, some of the animals were adopted through shelters after prior neglect or mistreatment, adding a rehabilitation dimension to the work. Since becoming an official unit, the program has been able to staff three full-time nurses, signaling a shift from an informal innovation to a more embedded care model inside the hospital. (apnews.com)
The practical model is simple but structured. Patients are often paired with a specific donkey, and sessions include routine husbandry tasks such as feeding, hygiene, and hoof cleaning. Staff say those activities create openings to work on parallel patient goals, including eating habits, personal hygiene, emotional regulation, communication, social interaction, and self-esteem. The hospital team also says the donkeys can help motivate participation among patients receiving intensive treatments, including antipsychotics and sedatives, who may otherwise struggle to engage in daily activities. (apnews.com)
That said, the people behind the program are also explicit about the limits of the evidence. Ermelinda Hadey told AP that formal recognition within psychiatry will require stronger research, not just positive patient and caregiver accounts. That caution aligns with the broader literature. A 2025 systematic review in Frontiers in Psychiatry concluded that donkey-assisted interventions show promise in mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions, but the field is still small, heterogeneous, and in need of more robust study designs and outcome measures. (apnews.com)
Industry reaction appears to be less about skepticism over the concept of animal-assisted therapy itself, and more about whether programs like this can produce publishable evidence and maintain strong welfare standards. The available reporting did not surface formal statements from French veterinary regulators or major psychiatric societies on this specific unit. Still, the hospital team's own framing is notable: they are not presenting donkeys as a novelty, but as part of a clinically supervised, complementary care approach that they hope will eventually be evaluated more rigorously. (apnews.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this story sits at the intersection of welfare, ethics, and evidence. As animal-assisted interventions diversify beyond familiar species, veterinarians may be asked to help define what good practice looks like, from preventive care and zoonotic risk management to behavioral assessment, workload monitoring, and retirement planning for therapy animals. Programs like Ville-Evrard's may also increase demand for species-specific guidance on donkey handling and welfare in healthcare environments, where the therapeutic goals for patients have to be balanced against the animals' physical and emotional needs. (apnews.com)
The story also highlights a broader professional tension: compelling anecdotes can accelerate public interest, but they don't settle questions about efficacy, reproducibility, or animal burden. For veterinary teams, that means an opportunity to shape these programs early, before they scale, by insisting on measurable welfare indicators and clear clinical protocols. If donkey-assisted therapy gains traction, the strongest models will likely be those built with both mental health clinicians and animal health experts at the table. (frontiersin.org)
What to watch: The next signal will be whether Ville-Evrard or outside researchers publish formal outcomes data, and whether similar hospital-based donkey therapy units emerge elsewhere in France or Europe under clearer clinical and welfare frameworks. (apnews.com)