Jon Stewart to Open Animal Sanctuary in New Jersey
Jon Stewart is going from dealing with metaphorical “bullshit” to actual bullshit with the opening of a new animal sanctuary in Middletown, New Jersey. The former Daily Show host and his wife Tracey, a longtime animal advocate, have spent the past two years readying their 12-acre Bufflehead Farm for the arrival of mistreated animals of all types, Mother Nature Network writes.
The Stewarts were honored at a gala Saturday night for Farm Sanctuary, an organization that provides shelter to animals rescued from factory farms. “I’m a little uncomfortable. I’ve spent the last 20 years immersed in the world of Washington politics and the media landscape, so I don’t know how to deal necessarily with people who have empathy,” the comedian told the crowd, according to Yahoo!. Stewart often used The Daily Show as a platform to spotlight animal welfare issues, while Tracey recently published her book Do Unto Animals.
Bufflehead Farm currently houses four pigs, with a shipment of four sheep on the way. While the hope is that the Stewarts’ animal sanctuary will eventually be open to the public, it’s currently available by reservation only. “Our hope is to get a lot of school groups in,” Tracey Stewart said. “If everyone did a bit more, if they fell in love a little bit more, so much could happen. It doesn’t have to be going vegan. You can advocate for them. You can show tenderness. You can play music for them. I really hope people can connect with animals the way most of us did as children.”
The Stewarts’ animal sanctuary was also recently featured on an episode of CBS This Morning: