Kangaroo in freedom on the farms of Jupiter

TV crews invaded Jupiter Farms' quaint dirt road on Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after one of its residents disappeared.

The neighbors described Storm as a comedian, especially when he leaned back, exposing his round belly and scratching his chest as if nothing had happened. The 4-foot-tall, 45-pound black-legged kangaroo disappeared Monday night from Eric Westergard's home, where Storm lived in a sanctuary with six other kangaroos.

PHOTOS: Kangaroo Free on Jupiter Farms

Tuesday night, the 5-year-old marsupial was still missing. The researchers said that when they found Storm, they planned to control him with a tranquilizing dart and send him back to his owner.

Storm was known for never leaving the side of his best kangaroo friend, Avalanche, said his neighbors.

How – or why – did he escape? The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which oversees a one-day search, is doing it.

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He was really laid back, Westergard told the Palm Beach Post. However, "sometimes they are scared," he said about his kangaroos, which means that the presence of a predator or a storm accident could have scared the # 39; animal. Westergard, who has the right to own kangaroos, has raised Storm since childhood.

His mind was elsewhere when he answered a reporter's questions on Tuesday afternoon as he sought a balance between the demands of his cover company and Storm's quest.

A dog wandered off a leash along another dirt road blocking blocks of the sanctuary. A poster looking for help finding a missing cat was posted along Jupiter Farms Road. But Storm was different: he is an exotic animal and he had to be brought home.

The residents of the farm saw their neighborhood turn into a scene when Storm jumped.

David Bronson watched it outside with his dog around 7:20 am.

Twenty minutes later, Kim Baker Linton said her son, Robbie, had seen 159th Court North and 95th Avenue North.

Throughout the day, more officers were invited to help find the little "lost roo". Tuesday night, between 12 and 15 officers from the FWC and the Florida Highway Patrol, a K-9 from the Tequesta Police Department and two drones roamed the rural neighborhood of homes located west of Jupiter.

There was a problem in the search, in addition to the vast, sometimes dense, landscape of Jupiter Farms: the kangaroos are nocturnal, so Storm was probably hidden. And the researchers planned to put things in suspense when the night fell.

These escapes in residential areas are "pretty rare," said Busch Wildlife Sanctuary Executive Director Amy Kight. His organization helped find an emu found in a natural area and a kinkajou searched in a garbage bin.

In such occasions, the owners are sometimes not found, often because they did not have a permit or wanted to keep a pet.

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In July 2004, a mixture of Bengal tiger and Siberian 6-year-old named Bobo escaped from a Loxahatchee shrine run by former actor Tarzan Steve Sipek. The tiger was on the board for a day in front of an officer, saying that the tiger had been thrown at him, had shot and killed Bobo only 400 meters from his home. Years later, the state decided another case against Sipek by revoking his right to keep big cats.

RELATED: Archive: Free Tiger in Loxahatchee

A 60-pound lucky charm named Bucky Buckaroo and Pancho, the goat of Robert Van Winkle, also known as rapper Vanilla Ice, also disappeared the same year in the garden of his grandmother, Port St. Lucie. He had to pay a $ 2,000 fine because the city does not allow these exotic animals.

RELATED: Vanilla Ice is left with his lost animal wallaroo, Bucky Buckaroo

This year, the FWC investigated another missing exotic animal in Palm Beach County, an oversight that took off from an owner in Jupiter, said FWC spokeswoman Carol Lyn Parrish.

The storm is not a significant risk to public safety, but those who see it must not approach the animal. Instead, contact the FWC Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-3922.

RELATED: A Florida woman looking for an emc escaped after Hurricane Irma