'The impact is really positive': Irish farmer brings alpaca therapy to nursing homes and schools

Oakfield nursing home residents Margaret Hawe, aged 84, and Anne Steadmond, aged 86, pet an alpaca called Stan in Courtown recently. Picture: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

Flanked by a gaggle of smartphone-wielding onlookers, Irish farmer Joe Phelan ushered two alpacas down the corridor of a local nursing home as beaming residents waited their turn to pet them.

A decade after ditching his office job for farming, 64-year-old "Alpaca Joe" has found a new job for his herd of 71 woolly South American camelids: animal therapy for the elderly and people with additional needs.