How dolphin therapy aids people with disabilities in Brazil's Amazon

Andrade (third from right) launched Bototherapy in 2016, offering therapy sessions for people with disabilities by swimming with wild pink dolphins in the Amazon. Photos: AFP

Floating in the Rio Negro river in the Brazilian Amazon, Luiz Felipe, who has Down syndrome, beams as he hugs a pink dolphin during a special therapy session.

Luiz Felipe, 27, is one of several patients with disabilities who travelled from the nearby city of Manaus to take part in the alternative therapy sessions, which have helped some 400 people over the past two decades.