Gracie has been found and will be safely returned home

The search for the missing giraffe named Gracie has now come to a close.  According to the Real County Sheriff’s Office, she is now on her way home.

In a statement Friday morning, the sheriff’s office said the giraffe was located by Vick Jones at approximately 7:30 a.m., nearly four miles south of Jones’ Cedar Hollow Ranch.  She was found during an aerial search.

Gracie, who is about 3 years old, had been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to Jones’ interview with the Associated Press earlier this week.

Jones owns the remote property approximately 100 miles west of San Antonio.  He said Wednesday that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately-owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.  Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres with no luck.  A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.

By the time they could search the area, Jones said Gracie was already gone.  On Friday, Jones told the sheriff’s office that “he is putting a team together to safely capture Gracie and bring her home.”