NJ animal sanctuary damaged as driver crashes through fence, destroys well, abandons car

The founder of a New Jersey animal shelter spent spent Monday clearing her property after a crash destroyed a well, flooded her land and left debris strewn throughout animal pastures.

Rian Feldman, founder of Uncle Neil's Home animal sanctuary in Bridgeton, NJ, said that she believes her sanctuary suffered "tens of thousands of dollars" in damages after a car crashed through a fence at the property on Sunday night, smashed into and destroyed a well -- flooding the property -- and flipped over before coming to a rest in a pasture.

The driver, she said, then fled the scene, leaving the destroyed vehicle at the animal sanctuary.

"There were car parts in our trees," she told NBC10 on Tuesday.

According to police, the incident happened sometime overnight on May 5th, when a red Mazda car lost control while traveling along Beebe Run Road in Hopewell Township.

The driver, officials said, veered off the roadway and struck a fence at the animal sanctuary and continued on into a well before overturning.

The driver, who police did not identify, left the scene of the crash and, officials said, reported the incident to police the next morning.

However, Feldman said, the incident seemed more concerning.

On Monday morning, she said, employees there found the abandoned car after not being able to get water at the property because of the broken well.

Inside the vehicle, she claimed to have found, what she believes is drug paraphernalia. And, a surveillance camera on the property, she claimed, caught images of the suspected driver of the vehicle hopping a fence after the crash, wandering off the property at about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

"He just abandoned it and left," she said, talking about the remains of the vehicle strewn throughout her property. "And, he leaves us here having to repair everything on our property."

Though she has insurance, Feldman said that she now has to pay to fix the fence and well as well as work to repair the damage done in the crash.

She also said that -- not only is the driver lucky to be alive after driving fast enough to destroy the concrete and pipes to her well -- but, her animals were lucky too as the vehicle very nearly killed some of the residents of the sanctuary.

Now, Feldman said, she's waiting to make sure that all of the damage will be covered by insurance as they work to get the sanctuary cleaned and repaired.

"It's really on all of us," she said.

Police have said that the driver has been issued multiple motor vehicle traffic violations and the crash remains under investigation.