Taylor Swift may be topping charts in the music world, but another Taylor Swift — a tiny cheetah cub — is stealing hearts at a wildlife rescue center.
The adorable cub is just a few months old and already has quite a story. She was born in the wild with her mother by her side, but her life took a dangerous turn when poachers snatched her from her natural home in Africa, hoping to sell her into the illegal exotic pet trade. Thankfully, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a nonprofit based in Namibia, stepped in just in time.
When rescuers first met Taylor Swift the cheetah, she weighed only three pounds — about the size of a house cat kitten. Now, she’s safe, growing strong, and according to CCF, doing “all too well.”
Since her rescue, Taylor has been busy getting used to a healthy diet and starting touch training. This early training helps her get comfortable with human handling, which is super important as she begins her vaccine schedule. “It may not be the Eras Tour, but so far Taylor’s training has been very successful,” joked Dr. Laurie Marker, CCF’s founder and executive director.
The team named the little cheetah Taylor Swift as a nod to the singer’s well-known love for cats — and it fits her perfectly.
Taylor is now living her best life at CCF’s new center in Somaliland, a 1,800-acre wildlife reserve created to help cheetahs rescued from illegal trafficking. At the center, rescued cheetahs like Taylor get to roam in large enclosures ranging from 5 to 12 acres, giving them plenty of space to heal, play, and just be cheetahs.
CCF has been a leader in cheetah conservation for years, helping to protect the species, whose numbers in the wild have fallen to fewer than 7,000. With her second chance at life, Taylor Swift the cheetah is a bright little reminder of why their work matters so much.