A man, a Zebra and a Parrot walk into this bar and...

DUBUQUE, Iowa - It sounds like the beginning of a joke. A man, a zebra, a parrot walk into a bar.

This is the guy

A Cascade man was arrested outside of a Dubuque bar on Sunday night with a pet zebra and a macaw parrot in the front seat of his truck.

Officers charged Jerald Reiter, 55, with OWI. Police reports say officers stopped him in the parking lot of the Dog House Lounge as he drove away in his truck. According to police, field sobriety tests showed Reiter had a blood alcohol level of .14. The legal limit in Iowa is .08.

Reiter tells KCRG.com that he and his girlfriend, Vickey Teters, see the animals like their kids and often take them for rides. On Sunday night, they say they took the zebra and the macaw to the bar because it often lets people bring their animals inside.

Reiter says the owner told him they were serving food that night and he couldn’t bring a zebra inside the bar. Bar owners tell KCRG.com that no animals are ever allowed inside the establishment.

At that time he went outside to put the animals in his truck and several people were in the parking lot taking pictures. He believes one of those people called police.

Reiter disputes the charges and says he realized he was too drunk to drive and was about to let a passenger in the truck to take the wheel when he was arrested.

Online records show Mr. Reiter was released from the Dubuque County Jail May 21, 2012.