Alpacas and llamas are increasingly used in animal-assisted interventions, with welfare implications for animals whose social and environmental needs must be met alongside their therapeutic role.
Camelid therapy programmes illustrate a general principle in animal-assisted interventions: the welfare of the therapy animal must be actively managed, not assumed to be incidental to the therapeutic benefit for humans. Alpacas and llamas that are well-habituated to human contact, transported in familiar company, and given clear welfare monitoring can participate in therapeutic work without evidence of chronic stress. Poorly managed programmes, however -- with frequent transport, novel environments, and inadequate social housing between visits -- create welfare harms in animals who cannot communicate their distress in ways human participants recognise. Accreditation with welfare monitoring is essential.