Iowa man with zebra, parrot in truck gets DUI

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

photo In an undated photo Vickey Teter of Cascade, Iowa, is seen with the baby zebra and a parrot she owned along with Jerald Reiter. Jerald Reiter stopped outside a Dubuque bar with a small zebra and a parrot in his truck has been charged with drunken driving. Reiter says he was about to let a passenger, a person, begin driving. (AP Photo/The Gazette-KCRG TV9, Katie Wiedemann)

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) - An Iowa man stopped outside a Dubuque bar with a small zebra and a parrot in his truck has been charged with drunken driving.

KCRG-TV reports (http://bit.ly/KkBp1j ) officers arrested 56-year-old Jerald Reiter of Cascade on Sunday in the parking lot of the Dog House bar, where people had been taking photos of the animals.

Reiter says the zebra and macaw parrot are pets and like riding in the truck. Reiter claims he sometimes takes the animals into the bar, but the owner says they're not allowed inside.

Officers gave Reiter a field sobriety test and charged him with drunken driving. Reiter disputes the arrest. He says he was about to let a passenger, a person, begin driving.

He says he thinks someone who came to see the animals called police.