Search underway for missing giraffe named Gracie in Texas

Search underway for missing giraffe named Gracie in Texas Gracie has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments A three-year-old giraffe named Gracie has vanished from a Texas ranch, sparking a challenging search across the vast landscape of the Hill Country. Gracie has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch, a remote property located approximately 100 miles west of San Antonio. Vic Jones, the ranch owner, stated Wednesday that Gracie had ventured into a section of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes had previously avoided, complicating efforts to locate her. Jones has deployed helicopters in the search, and while a few sightings have been reported, the elusive animal remains at large. A $5,000 reward is being offered for her safe return. But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn't turned up. “She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.” The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low. “People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. 'She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands." The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals' native African environments. He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe. “I’ve had wildebeests, I've had water buffalo, I've had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.” While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe's native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her. Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south. But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone. “We're always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments