Jon Stewart Adopts Pony Hit With 125 Paintballs

Abused animal was dumped at Pa. stables
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 21, 2016 5:59 AM CDT
Jon Stewart Adopts Pony Hit With 125 Paintballs
Jon Stewart performs at the 9th Annual Stand Up For Heroes event at Madison Square Garden last fall.   (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP)

An abused pony that was hit with more than 125 paintballs at close range has a new home thanks to Jon Stewart. The former Daily Show host and his wife, animal advocate Tracey MacShane, have agreed to adopt Lily, who was starving and half blind when she was abandoned at the New Holland Sales Stables auction site in Pennsylvania last month, LancasterOnline reports. The 20-year-old pony will live at the couple's Bufflehead Farm in New Jersey, which is home to dozens of other rescued animals. The Lancaster County SPCA says Stewart and MacShane decided to adopt Lily last month after visiting her at the Omega Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, Fox 43 reports.

"I don't think we could ask for better," Omega director Kelly Smith says. "She'll be living the life of Reilly. She'll be well cared for, and she'll never want for anything again." She says Lily, who had to have an eye surgically removed, has made "phenomenal" progress during her time at the center. On Friday, 65-year-old Rhode Island man Philip Price Jr. was found guilty on counts including animal cruelty relating to his transport of the animal from New Jersey, reports WGAL, which notes that authorities have not determined who shot the pony with paintballs. Price was ordered to pay more than $10,000 toward Lily's rehabilitation costs. (Stewart and MacShane have also adopted a bull that escaped a New York City slaughterhouse.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X