Gracie the Giraffe, who went missing for about two weeks in Texas after wandering off a remote private ranch, was finally found Friday — and the open range appeared to have agreed with her.
The giraffe was spotted about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south of her enclosure during an aerial search in the Texas Hill Country, according to Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson. He said Gracie’s owner, Vick Jones, contacted a veterinarian and began putting together a team to bring the giraffe safely back to the ranch.
“She’s in good shape,” Jones said. “She’s standing there, swishing her tail.”
Gracie, who is about 3 years old and weighs at least 1,200 pounds, was found within a half-mile of a pond and creek and had plenty of vegetation to feed on, said Jones, adding that she appeared to have been in that area for about a week.
Getting the 10-foot-tall giraffe home to the Cedar Hollow Ranch, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of San Antonio, was taking some work.
Veterinarians needed time to sedate Gracie and put a hood over her eyes, Jones said. From there, Gracie will be moved with an open-pasture trailer to a taller, enclosed trailer made for giraffes for the trip back to the ranch.
Parts of the remote area cannot be reached by car, which prompted the search by helicopter. While Real County’s 2,700 residents were urged to keep an eye out for her, Gracie was found on private property where no one lives, Jones said.
I hope these detectives win an award! Only two weeks to find a 10 foot tall beast wandering in open plains is some serious sleuthing. Need to hand these guys some cold cases to crack next. Is that elephant that broke loose in Tokyo still missing?
To be fair, it’s not at all “open plains” around Leakey Texas, there’s a lot of hills and bush, and being ten feet tall isn’t really tall for a giraffe, most trees grow much taller than that. https://earth.google.com/web/@29.72699759,-99.78140998,507.03412789a,13739.14392185d,35y,-2.58643137h,13.85651599t,0r/data=CgRCAggBQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA
A giraffe is not exactly small. How blind have they been not to find it?
Well, how many people saw this animal and said, “Wtf?? I gotta quit drinking…”
I’m not sure if you know this, but Texas is pretty big. And some of it isn’t reachable by car, which means it’s all but invisible to Americans already. ;-)




