By Glen Beeby KPIC News Video WINSTON, Ore. -- Wildlife Safari in Winston, has rare animals from across the globe, like rhino's, lions and even an Anatolian Shepherd. The rare thing about this pooch is not her breed, but her roommate who just happens to be the fastest predator on earth.
"It's a very popular question of why we have a dog and a cheetah out there, and it's a common practice that a lot of institutions across the United States are doing right now in an effort to tell this very conservation story," said Dan Brands, Curator at the Safari.
As a single birth cheetah cub, Sanurra was abandoned by her mother, which opened the door for these two, to be brought together.
Cheetah supervisor, Sarah Roy, says, "Rather than let Sanurra grow up alone we were able to bring in a dog as a sibling, basically like her sister, and they have been together ever since."
This odd pairing was no accident, as an Anatolian Shepard is very protective, and that natural instinct could be the key to saving the wild cheetah population.
"Anatolians will be like that no matter what they are raised with whether it's goats or whether it's cattle..so the farmers get these dogs as puppies, and a big barking dog is plenty to keep a cheetah away from their livestock, and in turn farmers are shooting less cheetahs, because right now they are a shoot-on-site animal," said Roy.
While these roommates may be considered the odd couple of the safari, caretakers says it's like nothing they've ever seen.
"When we take the dog for her daily walk, the cheetah sits on her house and waits for the dog to some back, and if we take Sanurra down to the village for the day, Ellie cries and whines for her cheetah to come back, so they do miss each other."
That type of bond could change the road ahead for cheetahs in Africa.
mac@mmccarthy.net
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