Jon And Tracey Stewart To Open Farm Sanctuary In Monmouth County

Jon Stewart and his wife, Tracey, are turning their Middletown farm into a branch of Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection group.

“Somebody pinch me! Last night I was able to announce that our farm will become part of Farm Sanctuary,’” Tracey Stewart announced on the Facebook page her of magazine, Moomah Magazine. “We’re going to do great things together!!”

The Middletown site will become the fourth Farm Sanctuary location, according to the organization’s website, which describes the group as “America’s leading farm animal protection organization.”

It operates shelters in New York and California, caring for almost 1,000 rescued farm animals. The organization also “works to change laws to decrease abuse of farm animals, and promotes compassionate vegan living,” the website said.

The Stewarts made the announcement Saturday, during the organization’s 2015 gala dinner, where the couple received the Gift of Life Award.

“We bought a farm in New Jersey with the intention of starting a farm sanctuary of our own with an educational center, but what I’m announcing tonight is that our farm is actually going to be the New Jersey branch of Farm Sanctuary. We’re going to build new advocates, new curious learners, and new leaders for this very important movement,” Tracey Stewart said, according to an announcement on Farm Sanctuary’s website.

An opening date for the Middletown site has not yet been announced, but fans can follow The Daily Squeal on Facebook to learn about piglets Anna and Maybelle, the farm’s first residents.

The piglets were found on the side of a Georgia road last summer, and Tracey Stewart said they may have fallen off a truck, according to the New York Times.

The Times reported that the Stewarts bought the 12-acre farm in Middletown in 2013, and it will eventually be open to the public by appointment. Tracey Stewart told the newspaper that she and her husband hope school groups will come to the farm.