A rampaging wallaroo. A unlicensed goat. Vanilla Ice.
It might have the makings of a lost episode of The Surreal Life, but it's just another day in the life of the white-boy rapper, who is begging for the return of his pet wallaroo and goat after they spent a day cruising a Florida neighborhood and allegedly terrorizing some locals.
The Ice man is in trouble with animal control authorities in Port St. Lucie, Florida, after the aforementioned animals escaped last Saturday. The elusive critters wandered the streets of the town's Torino district, where the wallaroo scratched a woman and kicked her car.
"Vanilla Ice loves his animals and they just got loose," his manager, Tommy Quon, told E! Online Friday adding that the rapper was hoping to free them before this weekend.
A spokeswoman for Port St. Lucie Animal Control confirmed that Ice, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, had met with the chief inspector about getting Bucky Buckaroo and Pancho the Goat out of the slammer, but she declined to comment further.
Per local reports, the 36-year-old "Ice Ice Baby" purveyor called authorities to claim the creatures, which were captured following the woman-scratching, car-kicking incident.
"They're both mine; they're buddies," Ice confessed to local television station WPTV.
According to animal control supervisor Melissa Behres, Ice was "very grateful" that they were picked up.
"They are, as far as the family is concerned, beloved pets. They've raised them since they were babies; they were both bottle fed," Behres told South Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper. "He was just eternally grateful that we had them, that they were safe."
Too bad they're also outlawed.
Bucky, a 60-pound wallaroo--a cross between a wallaby and a kangaroo that's native to Australia--is an exotic animal that's not allowed in Port St. Lucie unless its owner obtains a special permit. The permit ensures authorities have verified the creature was being kept in a proper enclosure. As a farm animal, the goat is also banned from the city.
Ice had been granted a license in 2001 that allowed him to keep Bucky as a pet--but only in western Broward County, not Port St. Lucie--and it has since expired.
He has said that Bucky and Pancho reside with him in Broward County, but they occasionally accompany him and his family to visit his grandmother in Port St. Lucie. He also said that he did not realize the permit had expired.
Under state law, Ice could face jail time and heavy fines for failing to reapply for the license, carrying the animals across county lines without obtaining the proper permit and allowing them to escape.
But it's more likely that he'll just be fined in addition to forking over the appropriate licensing fees.
According to Ice, his two young daughters, ages four and seven, had been playing with the animals and forgot to lock the door to his grandmother's house.
"They play with them all the time and don't think to close the latch," Van Winkle told the Sun-Sentinel. "But the goat pushes things with his head, so he pushed the door and they just walked out."
Or hopped. In any case, as Quon explained, "Bucky the wallaroo follows Pancho the goat around, and the goat's the leader of the pack."
Their big day on the town ended when the fugitives were detained by animal control personnel after a woman phoned in to say Bucky scratched her--after she foolishly tried to feed it. The wallaroo also put a dent in her car with its powerful hind legs.
Ice has since gotten in touch with the woman and offered to pick up the tab for any medical bills or damage to her car caused by the kick.
This isn't the first time the Ice man's had to answer to the law over some beastly behavior.
In 1998, he was cited for unlawful possession of wildlife for keeping a lynx in his backyard without the proper license. He eventually acquired the proper paperwork and was not fined. The lynx died three years ago.
In 2001, it was Ice himself, not his animals that landed him in jail. He was arrested for striking his wife during a domestic squabble, charged with disorderly conduct and put on probation. The couple are still together.
Earlier this year, Vanilla Ice was forced to scrap some promotional appearances hyping his appearance on VH1's The Surreal Life after Bucky clawed Ice's face.
Said Quon. "I just hope [Ice] gets his animals back."