Fastest Man Adopts Fastest Cat

by Kirsten Taylor (Subscribe to Kirsten Taylor's posts): Nov 12th 2009 @ 3:00PM Filed Under: Exotic Pets, Pets News

Roberto Schmidt, AFP / Getty Images

Fast and faster: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who holds world records for the 100-meter and the 200-meter, is frequently described as the fastest man on Earth. The cheetah, which can sprint 70 miles per hour, is hands-down the fastest land animal on the planet. So it was a match made in speed-demon heaven when the aptly-named Bolt adopted a cheetah cub, Yahoo News reported.

Unlike Bai Ling, however, Bolt won't be welcoming the speedy feline into his home. The star athlete is sponsoring the 3-month-old cheetah, named Lightning Bolt, in an effort to support wildlife conservation in Kenya, according to Yahoo News.

Lightning Bolt and his two cheetah siblings were abandoned by their mother in a Kenyan game park, and are now being cared for by an animal orphanage in Nairobi, the nation's capital. Bolt paid the Kenya Wildlife Service $13,700 to adopt the cub, and he's agreed to pay $3,000 a year for the feline's care, reports Yahoo News. The money will also be used to protect Kenya's charismatic endangered species.

As a three-time Olympic gold medalist, Bolt has given his fans plenty of reasons to cheer. As far as we're concerned, his adoption of Lightning Bolt is worthy of one great big standing ovation.

Tags: cheetah, conservation, kenya, Usain Bolt, UsainBolt