ELDERLY residents were given a lovely surprise when two fluffy alpacas came to visit a nursing home in Dorchester.

Signature House care home in Dorchester welcomed Casper and Midnight Prince from the Alpaca Adventure centre in Shaftesbury earlier this month.

Staff regularly bring animals into the care home as this has been shown to promote wellbeing in elderly people and sufferers of dementia. This is known as animal assisted therapy and has been found to minimise the effects of and decrease the risk of developing depression.

Kelly, activities coordinator at the care home, said: "They were absolutely beautiful and they didn’t even make much mess. As not all our residents are mobile the alpaca went up to see them. They loved stroking the alpaca and feeling their soft fleece and it encouraged them to ask Wendy, their owner, questions about alpaca as well as other animals in the camel family.

"Many residents had not seen alpaca before, I know I haven’t. I was surprised at their size, imagining that they were as big as a camel or llama, but they were little packages of fluffiness.

“Loved seeing the residents faces light up when they arrived. It’s not something we see every day and giving the residents different experiences is something we are committed to achieve. Signature House isn’t just a care home. It’s their home and giving them happiness in their home is an awesome feeling.”

Kerry Hunt, care home manager, said: “Seeing someone smile who is normally unable express emotions is an amazing feeling. The animals also sense if someone wants to engage with them but aren’t able to. They go closer to the resident so that they are able to stroke or just touch them. It is lovely to watch the residents chatting to each other as a result of seeing the animals, sometimes just about the animal they have seen, but also sharing memories from their past.

"To see the joy and excitement on everyone’s faces is amazing, just something as simple as seeing an animal can have such a positive impact on emotional well being."

Beryl, one of the residents, said: “A wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to see them again."

Goda, another resident, said: “I’ve never seen anything like them before. They were so sweet and gentle with really soft fur.”