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Cheetahs cut loose at the race track

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Updated Dec. 18, 2012 at 1:26 PM
Published: Dec. 18, 2012 at 11:40 AM
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HOUSTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Curators at the Houston Zoo said they took a pair of cheetahs to a horse racing track to let them stretch their legs and sprint off their excess energy.

Beth Schaefer, the zoo's curator of primates and carnivores, said the zoo's two cheetahs, 5-year-old brothers Kito and Kiburi, were taken to the Sam Houston Race Park to let them cut loose and run at speeds of up to 65 mph, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

"They need about 600 feet," Schaefer said. "We don't have that straightaway anywhere on zoo grounds."

However, she said the fenced-in horse track was a perfect place for the cheetahs to tire themselves out.

Topics: Sam Houston
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