Out-of-control car crashes into NJ animal sanctuary

The owners of Uncle Neil’s Home, a New Jersey animal sanctuary, are still picking broken glass out of their pig pasture, but at least the hogs themselves were spared.

Still the owners of the Bridgeton farm animal rescue say it will take time and a lot of money before they fully recover from the damage caused by a car that crashed onto their property Sunday, resulting in what they said is tens of thousands of dollars in harm.

Rian Feldman, 34, one of the owners, said sometime after 10 p.m. Sunday the driver “pummeled through our fence at such a high speed that his car parts were strewn all over the trees. We’ve been cleaning up his car parts that are in our pastures. His bumper was in our tree like 20 feet up.”

That’s not all.

“His license plate fell off, and he hit the cement enclosure that holds our well and broke this massive cement block. That is how fast this car was traveling.”

The well ended up flooding, leaving the farm without water for about 24 hours, except what they could purchase and carry in, Feldman said.

Her partner, Scooter Belasco, 36, who has owned the 14-acre farm with Feldman for over three years, bought 100 gallons of water for their 80 animals.

She said the car appears to have flipped over after hitting a large tree, which redirected it somewhat so it missed the farm’s pig shed — but only by just a couple of feet. Their security camera then filmed an individual scrambling over their fence, falling and running away from their Cumberland County property.

The next morning, the driver returned to their farm with members of his family, Feldman said.

According to New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron, the driver did not report the accident until shortly before 8 a.m. Monday. He had been driving a Mazda, lost control of the vehicle, veered off the road, and, after hitting a tree and the well, the car overturned. The driver left the scene after that.

“The driver was issued multiple motor vehicle traffic violations,” Lebron said. “The crash remains under investigation.”

Feldman said police told them since the driver didn’t report the accident until several hours after it happened, it was too late to administer a test for possible intoxication.

The couple rescues farm animals from abusive situations as well as some from the food industry. Their residents include cows, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and the pigs. They also take in stray cats. To pay for their animal sanctuary, they work other jobs. Feldman is a dietitian and a marketer. Belasco works in digital marketing. So far, “we’ve fronted nearly $10,000″ to fix some of the most urgent damage, Feldman said.

“Hopefully the insurance company comes back and takes care of this,” she said. “But we don’t know.”

As bad as it was, it could have even been even worse.

“He’s truly lucky to be alive. He could have killed our animals,” Feldman said.

The driver did not return a request for comment.