Taylor Swift challenge reaches local animal shelters in New Brunswick

Wednesday marks Taylor Swift’s 34th birthday and while she isn’t celebrating here in the Maritimes, her birthday is still being honoured in a big way with local animal shelters jumping on board to a new fundraising challenge inspired by the pop-star.

“Taylor Swift was recently named Time Magazine’s person of the year. She posed with her rescue cat, Benjamin Button and so it’s become a really fun challenge, challenging the public and animal lovers to donate $13 to their favourite animal charity in their honour,” explained People for Animal Wellbeing (PAW) executive director, Heather Smith.

Calling it the Taylor Swift challenge, Swifties, animal lovers, and the general public are being encouraged to donate on her birthday and also try to recreate her memorable Time Magazine photo.

“I was at home, I was seeing these Taylor Swift challenges popping up and I thought ‘hey, I can do this!’ TV interviews are a little nerve wracking sometimes, but posing with my cat to raise awareness for animals and shelters? I can totally do that,” laughed Smith, whose photo was used to announce the local fundraising initiative on Wednesday morning.

Heather Smith's photo for the Taylor Swift challenge. (Courtesy: Facebook/People for Animal Wellbeing)However, Smith was joined by thousands online across the world and in Atlantic Canada who also posted their take on the photo.

For Crystal Richard, that meant an early morning photoshoot with her cat, Bella, before donating back to the Moncton shelter where she got Bella over a decade ago.

“I will say it’s a lot harder with a 16-year-old cat whose limbs don’t necessarily move as well as they used to, but she was definitely a great sport,” said Richard.

“We have her giving a pretty great blue steel look at the camera, so I think we achieved the challenge.”

Bella the cat is seen in a photo from Dec. 13, 2023. (Alana Pickrell/CTV Atlantic)

She says that Bella joined her family during her last year of university, has lived in five different cities with her and travels alongside her and her husband.

For Richard, Bella is a part of the family and taking part in challenges like this just make sense.

“She’s a really big part of our lives and at 16-years-old, she’s still got the energy of a kitten so we’re hoping we’ve still got lots more adventures to come,” she said.

Adding, “We actually brought her home from PAW which was formally the SPCA, 16 years ago next week on December 21. So there’s just something about donating to PAW around the holidays, I always make sure to check out their open house and bring in some items for the pets at the shelter every year on behalf of Bella, but when I saw they were doing this Taylor Swift challenge, I couldn’t resist. It was just too good.”

Crystal Richard poses with her cat for the Taylor Swift challenge. (Courtesy: Crystal Richard) Vet-Champlain Animal Care Inc. in Dieppe helped kick off donations on Wednesday morning in support of PAW.

“We ended up donating $1,313.13 just because that is Taylor Swift’s lucky number and we are December 13 so we thought the number 13 was very fitting,” said vet assistant and office manager, Allison D’Entremont.

She added, “It really caught our interest just because Taylor Swift is a big pop star. A lot of people are following her and all the things that she posts and we just thought it was a great way to capture people’s attention just because it’s very out there.”

Not only did Vet-Champlain donate money back to the shelter, but D’Entremont also posed with their clinic cat, Norman, to really complete the full challenge.

“It actually was a pretty easy challenge for Norman just because he’s a pretty easy-going cat,” she laughed.

Allison D'Entremont poses with the clinic car names Norman. (Courtesy: Facebook/Vet Champlain Animal Care Inc.) This isn’t the first time that a celebrity has been connected to an animal fundraising initiative. The Betty White challenge saw huge success at the Moncton shelter and Smith says after a challenging fundraising year, it’s exciting to see the difference that Taylor Swift can make.

“If celebrities can use their fame and their following to advocate for a good cause, it not only resonates with Taylor Swift fans, but it also resonates with animal lovers so the impact and the reach is huge,” she said.

Adding, “I saw an interview with Taylor Swift and she was just talking about kindness and she was talking a lot about happiness despite facing adversity and I thought that really resonates with me especially as executive director of an animal shelter. I mean, the animals, many of them have gone through challenges and faced adversity and now they’re just having happiness and kindness and it’s a great opportunity for us to spread that.”

Richard says whether you’re a die-hard Swiftie or just an occasional listener, having celebrities speak out about a relatable cause usually sees support from all over.

“There’s just something that gets people excited and they want to get involved and if there’s an opportunity to donate to something that’s important to those celebrities that we admire, we jump on it,” she said.

Adding, “I think when celebrities show a real-life side to them, such as being a cat mom or being obsessed with cats, that’s something that’s incredibly relatable and it brings them down to a level that we can relate to and so I think this is a great way to raise awareness for causes that she’s excited about.”

Right now, heading into winter, it is a slower time at the shelter, but Smith says they still have over 100 animals in their care.

She adds that all the money raised through the Taylor Swift challenge will go directly to the cats in their care, especially for medical costs.

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