After nearly two weeks on the loose in the Texas Hill Country, a giraffe named Gracie has been found alive and well — and by all accounts, she enjoyed her time in the wild.
Gracie was located on Friday, approximately 4 miles south of her enclosure, during a helicopter search of the area. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson confirmed the discovery, noting that Gracie’s owner, Vick Jones, immediately reached out to a veterinarian and began assembling a team to safely return her to the ranch.
“She’s in good shape,” Jones said. “She’s standing there, swishing her tail.”
The roughly 3-year-old giraffe, who tips the scales at no less than 1,200 pounds, was found within half a mile of both a pond and a creek, with plenty of surrounding plant life to graze on. Jones estimated she had likely been in that particular spot for about a week.
Returning the 10-foot-tall animal to Cedar Hollow Ranch — located roughly 100 miles west of San Antonio — required careful planning. Veterinarians needed to sedate Gracie and place a hood over her eyes before she could be moved. The transport plan called for first loading her onto an open-pasture trailer, then transferring her to a taller, enclosed trailer specifically built to accommodate giraffes.
Much of the remote terrain where Gracie was found is inaccessible by vehicle, which is why a helicopter was used in the search. While the roughly 2,700 residents of Real County had been asked to watch for her, Gracie was ultimately discovered on uninhabited private property.
“We didn’t bother her,” Jones said of the moment she was spotted. “She’s got water. She looked in really good shape.”
The Texas Hill Country is home to one of the highest concentrations of exotic captive animals anywhere in the United States. Sheriff Johnson noted that reports of missing animals in the area are not uncommon — he said he’s received calls about missing wildebeests, water buffalo, zebras, and monkeys — though a missing giraffe was a first for him.
The region’s mild climate, rugged landscape, and abundant vegetation made it a manageable environment for Gracie. In her native Africa, giraffes typically do best in dry and semi-dry savannahs and open grasslands.
Jones believes Gracie never intended to leave the ranch. She had arrived at Cedar Hollow Ranch back in May and had developed a habit of wandering up to a rocky area to feed on trees growing from the rock face, always returning to her enclosure afterward.
On the day she went missing, Jones said, Gracie wandered into that rocky area to feed and came back down on the wrong side of a gate. At that point, continuing forward was simply easier than turning back.
The rocky terrain had not been fenced because giraffes had never ventured there before Gracie did — and installing fence posts in solid rock requires jackhammering. Jones said he now plans to have that fence built, and Gracie will remain in her enclosure at the ranch until the work is complete.
Despite her impressive size, Jones said Gracie posed no danger to anyone who might have crossed her path during her time on the loose.
“If you move toward her, she’s taking off,” he said.
