Cheetah and Labrador puppy become best friends at New Jersey zoo

Nandi, a wild cheetah reportedly befriended a Labrador dog named Bowie at the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey. The Turtle back Zoo, where the two reside, has shared the inspiring bond between the duo in a post on social media that has startled the users at the unusual friendship between the predator and the domestic pet.

According to the reports, the pair have been inseparable for more than a year now and love to wrestle in the snow and share their toys with each other. Charlotte Trapman-O’Brien, the zookeeper and animal trainer at the Turtle Back Zoo told the media that the Cheetah and the dog have been together since they were first brought in the Zoo and were a few weeks old.  

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He said that Bowie had a mandatory job here which was to be a confidence builder in order to win the trust of his friend. He further added that the predators are usually shy animals as they l9ive in the wild isolated, so, therefore, the Zoo authorities provided Nandi with Bowie to help build her confidence and get accustomed to the surrounding.

Bowie has training comparable to a therapy animal

The Zoo told the reporters that the Labrador retriever dog bowie had training comparable to a therapy animal and was able to reassure Nandi that she is safe and around a friend in order to make the Cheetah comfortable. It said that Cheetahs are naturally skittish by nature, so one of the things that allowed the zoo to bring her out and do educational presentations like this was having Bowie by her side.

The users on Facebook admired their friendship that was unusual and yet very inspiring. A user wrote in a comment, “Wonderful animals and some of my favourite people”, admiring the efforts made by the Zoo to keep the animals intact and taking care of them.

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