Cheetahs Faster Than Greyhounds

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 12332, 22 April 1938, Page 5 (Supplement)

Cheetahs Faster Than Greyhounds

Spectators at a dog-racing stadium . England were thrilled recently by tie performances of cheetahs imriorted from the Kenya jungles. * In their first appearance at Romford Stadium, one of the animals, ‘ tched against greyhounds, coverA 355 yards in 15.86 seconds—lughly fifty-five miles an hourleaving the greyhounds virtually at j standstill. jn place of using an electric rahyt, the promoter baited a mechanical hare with a piece of rabbit ahieh the cheetah was allowed to on the track at the end of its race. The cheetah had not been ? e d for twenty-four hours before the test.

K. C. Gandar-Dower. who was responsible for bringing twelve of the jnimals to England, stated in an article in the “London Times” that eieetah racing “is neither a sport

por a performance,” but rather a “spectacle.” He pointed out that “there is no intention of starting a

c pw form of betting.”

“There are not enough racing cheetahs in the world, and there

jeT er can be enough,” his comment continued. “The cheetahs do no tricks, they are simply and naturally themselves. The spectacle is that j{ the hunting cheetah pusuing its prey, stripped of the brutality of a tilling. They pursue a portion of rabbit fastened to the electric hare, and at the conclusion of the race

they eat this on the track as the re-

ward of their endeavours,

Speaking of his expeditions to the mountains of East Africa and the three years spent in training the racing cheetahs, Mr Gandar-Dower stated:

“It often seemed that one difficul-

tf or another was going to frustrate oar ambition, but at last our team of racing cheetahs is an entity—safe, tame, obedient, capable of beating the fastest greyhounds over a quarter of a mile and ready to proTide a spectacle which, I believe,

las never been surpassed for grace

aad beauty.

"Scientifically, the cheetah is neither cat nor dog. It belongs to jubatus, a special order of its own, ihich combines certain of the features of both. While primarily catlike in appearance, it is yet of a lighter, long-legged build, and its feet and claws, which are not fully retractile, are not those of a- cat. "Cheetahs possess something of the dog’s instinctive affection for aan; a cub raised by human beings rill purr in the presence of man like ten cats rolled into one, will lick his hands and face, will w'restle and flsht with its owner as if it were a dog. Even a fully-grown wild cheetah, though at first easily frightened, after proper training will heroine, in time, a truly domestic animal. It will respond to its name, rill follow its master like a dog, and can be relied upon never to turn savage, as leopards often ’will.”

“The cheetah is not a savage t*ast; but is highly strung and has to be handled with the greatest {entleness. It possesses, too, someWiig of the independent spirit of tlto cat. It does not accept so readily as a dog man’s arbitrary assumption that where animals are concernhe is judge of right and wrong. “They have proved themselves of running with dogs with-

W unfortunate occurrences, for feth cheetahs and greyhounds show Uprising indifference to one anger’s presence.

It has r been proved possible to fl'c greyhounds as much as twenty Ithis:start in 440 yards and beat by a convincing margin. The strolling factor is not the start *iich the cheetah is able to give the Abound, but the start which it is Wiling to give the hare.”

When the cheetah made its first

\EW FORM OP SPORT IX ENGLAND

appearance, the greyhound record at the Romford track for the 355 yards was 20.75 seconds. *

In another race, however, one of the cheetah’s racing faults was revealed. Two of the animals were racing against each other over hurdles. When one took a substantial lead, the other, seeing there was no chance of drawing close, slowed down to a walk and then turned back.