Swapped my red taxi for a career in animal preservation (9)
I believe the answer is:
taxidermy
'a career in animal preservation' is the definition.
(taxidermy is the practice of stuffing animals)
'swapped my red taxi' is the wordplay.
'swapped' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'swaps' mean this).
'my'+'red'+'taxi'='myredtaxi'
'myredtaxi' with letters rearranged gives 'TAXIDERMY'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for taxidermy that I've seen before include "Art of stuffing animals" , "A way to preserve wildlife?" , "preservation process" , "special stuffing" , "Stuffing practice" .)