Programmes using animals to calm patients and reduce tension are called animal therapy.

Kristin Gist and her dog Ollie are with patient Ricardo Martin, 6, at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California. The hospital has eased some of its COVID-19 restrictions. In the United States, these treatments are popular, ______ there is a lack of evidence to show that they work.

There are, however, many stories about animal therapy ______ people. For example, some children have a ______ of injections. That may make getting the COVID-19vaccine a difficult experience. So, some hospitals use therapy animals—like Ollie, a six-year-old therapy dog. Ollie is helping children at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California ______ their fear of vaccine shots. One of those children is nine-year-old Avery Smith. When she cried over her fear of the vaccine, Ollie came in and sat ______ her feet. “It helped me calm down because I never had a COVID vaccine before,” said Avery. Ever since November, Ollie and 14 other dogs have been helping them get vaccinated at the California hospital. They are part of a ______ programme paid for by a pet supply company.

However, some experts say there is a lack of scientific evidence proving that animal therapy improves a patient’s ______ condition. One such expert is Hal Herzog. He is a professor of psychology at Western Carolina University. He has been studying the relations between humans and ______ for more than 20 years. Herzog said that an animal can ______ a patient. Other things, he added, such as a favourite toy might have the same ______ .

“Some studies have shown that for short-term preventing pain— ______ with a dog can put your mind on something else. And in that case, I see ______ in doing it. And for some kids it’s probably going to be effective.”

However, Herzog ______ the use of animals as a medical treatment, like a drug. He said research does not show that animal therapy is effective. “Some of the better studies have found that therapy dogs did not really have any impact on kids and adults that were put in stressful, experimental situations.”

However, Herzog thinks ______ about the long-term effects of using animals as a medical treatment. For some people, even if there is not proof, the smiles and happy distraction may be enough. Last year, when hospitals put COVID-19 restrictions in place, the dog visits at Rady Children’s Hospital stopped. They restarted in August 2021. “There was nothing. It was silent. The kids were bored,” said Carlos Delgado, a spokesperson for the hospital. “However,” he told Reuters, “we were able to start bringing the programme back.” Delgado added that even a short three-minute visit with a dog makes a(n) ______ in the day of a patient.

My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse (松鸡). It’s ______for a grouse to have any contact (接触)with people. In fact, they’re hard to spot, ______they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching

This grouse came into our lives in _______ .Tom was working out in the field when he ______her walking around at the edge of the field. She was ______unafraid and seemed to be ______about what he was doing,

Tom saw the ______bird several times, and site got more comfortable around him. We quickly grew ______of the bird and decided to call her Mildred.

One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch. Tom ______he didn’t see her and kept working to see what she would do next.

Apparently, she didn’t like to be ______. She’d run up and peck (啄) at Tom’s hands, then ______ off to see what he would do. This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the ______and left.

As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to ______more and more often. ______Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom’s leg and stay long enough for me to get a ______of the two of them together. This friendly grouse soon felt ______no just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.

When hunting season opened, we put a ______at the end of our driveway asking ______not to shoot our pet grouse. My father, who lived down the road, ______warned people not to shoot her. ______, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.

I enjoy photographing everything in nature, especially wild horses. I first _______ Alberta’s wild horses 20 years ago. Ever since, I had wanted to see and _______them. A friend of mine, who loves wild animals, got to know my _______ and last year, I was _______ enough to be invited to see the wild horses in the Williams Creek area of Alberta with him. It was an amazing _______.

On our first visit we _______ more than 100 horses. Since then, we have been back to the same area three more times.

One time, while taking photos of a herd (群) of around 30 horses, I didn’t _______ that not 20 feet away, a young horse was sleeping behind a tree. Suddenly, he _______，jumped up and just stood there _______ me to take photos of him. As I was photographing him, the herd stud (种马) noticed how ________ the little horse was to me and came running over, snaking his neck with his ears back, as if warning the young horse, “________，get away！” The young horse didn’t seem to understand what he was being told and didn’t ________，until his mom came over to ________ him. I didn’t feel unsafe at all by the horse being close to me and ________ taking photos.

Another time, I ________ to take photos of a young horse running and jumping for the joy (欢乐) of it. He was having ________ all by himself while the rest of his herd ate grass peacefully — it made me feel ________.

Having been out with the wild animals several times now, I hope to ________ again — as often as possible! They give me complete peace of mind. I’m ________ for having the chance to spend time with them. These horses are born wild and ________，and should always remain so.