Cheetah savages boy's bicycle in his back garden

Usually, if Toby Taylor saw a stray cat wandering in his garden, he would shoo it away. But on this particular occasion, he thought it better to skedaddle himself.

The six-foot long beast slinking through the bushes towards him was a cheetah, complete with spots, fearsome claws and teeth.

Toby, nine, bolted the 40ft to the safety of his house - and thankfully the cheetah, the world's fastest land animal, chose not to chase.



Instead, it settled down to gnaw on the seat and tyres of the bicycle he had left behind.

The cheetah, whose name is Akea, had escaped from the zoo near Toby's house in Hamerton, Cambridgeshire.

Yesterday the zoo attempted to play down the drama, claiming Akea was as tame as a 'pet dog' and had been 'playing' with the bike. But Toby disagrees. 'It looked massive-and really scary,' he said. 'I thought it would attack me. I ran as fast as I could.'