After Two Weeks, Three Helicopters And A $5,000 Reward, A 10-Foot Giraffe Named Gracie Has Been Found.

Gracie is a 3-year-old giraffe weighing at least 1,200 pounds who had been living at Cedar Hollow Ranch in Leakey, Texas, about 100 miles west of San Antonio, until she wandered off her enclosure and spent nearly two weeks as one of the most-searched animals in American news. The escape was not dramatic: Gracie had developed a habit of climbing to a rocky hillside to feed on trees growing out of the rock face, always returning to the ranch's giraffe area afterward. One day she came back down on the wrong side of the gate, and at that point, ranch manager Vick Jones said, it was simply easier for a 10-foot animal to keep walking in the same direction than to go back. Because the rocky terrain had never seen a giraffe before, there was no fence, and jackhammering through solid rock to build one is no small undertaking. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson, who has handled missing wildebeests, water buffalo, zebras, and monkeys in his career, said this was his first giraffe.

Helicopters searched an initial area of 7,500 acres without success. A $5,000 reward was posted. Occasional sightings trickled in from the sparsely populated county, but by the time anyone could respond, Gracie had moved on. She had apparently found a reliable food supply and a pond with fresh water and had settled into a stretch of heavily wooded private land where the vegetation was good and the humans were almost nonexistent. On Friday morning, nearly two weeks after she left, a helicopter finally spotted her about four miles south of the ranch. Jones was contacted immediately and said simply: she is standing there, swishing her tail. He began assembling the veterinary team to sedate her and bring her home, a logistical project involving a specialized giraffe trailer and several sections of road accessible only by air. Johnson noted with characteristic calm that she appeared to have thrived on the adventure, and that the area's mild climate and rugged terrain had served her well. Jones confirmed he will be building a fence. Gracie is going home.

Source:https://apnews.com/article/giraffe-escape-texas-gracie-d2b4195738c484d562758c5b24e9e4a9