JohnCenaFan28
10-31-2008, 12:56 AM
A nine-year-old Cambridgeshire boy has told how he came face-to-face with a cheetah - in his back garden.
Toby Taylor was playing on his bike when the big cat, escaped from a nearby zoo, suddenly appeared on the lawn.
The frightened youngster ran inside and slammed the front door behind him - seconds before the 6ft-long cheetah pounced on his bike and ripped the seat and tyres to shreds.
Toby and his mum Jules, 41, cowered inside for 20 minutes until keepers arrived to re-capture the animal, called Akea, reports The Sun.
Toby, from Hamerton, said: "When I saw the cheetah I just panicked. It looked massive and really scary. I thought it was going to attack me so I ran away as fast as I could."
Mum Jules said: "I peered out of the kitchen window and there it was sitting bang in the middle of our lawn, looking towards the house.
"Then it got hold of Toby's bike and started ripping it to bits. I was in a blind panic and didn't know what to do so I phoned 999."
Staff at the zoo, near Sawtry, Cambs, said Akea appeared to have escaped through a faulty section of electric fencing.
But they denied Toby was in any danger from the cheetah, which they described as being as tame as a pet dog.
-Ananova
Toby Taylor was playing on his bike when the big cat, escaped from a nearby zoo, suddenly appeared on the lawn.
The frightened youngster ran inside and slammed the front door behind him - seconds before the 6ft-long cheetah pounced on his bike and ripped the seat and tyres to shreds.
Toby and his mum Jules, 41, cowered inside for 20 minutes until keepers arrived to re-capture the animal, called Akea, reports The Sun.
Toby, from Hamerton, said: "When I saw the cheetah I just panicked. It looked massive and really scary. I thought it was going to attack me so I ran away as fast as I could."
Mum Jules said: "I peered out of the kitchen window and there it was sitting bang in the middle of our lawn, looking towards the house.
"Then it got hold of Toby's bike and started ripping it to bits. I was in a blind panic and didn't know what to do so I phoned 999."
Staff at the zoo, near Sawtry, Cambs, said Akea appeared to have escaped through a faulty section of electric fencing.
But they denied Toby was in any danger from the cheetah, which they described as being as tame as a pet dog.
-Ananova