(NewsNation) — A Texas sheriff is explaining how Gracie the runaway giraffe was tracked down this week and says the hard part comes next: Getting her home safely.
“You don’t just load a giraffe into your car and drive her home,” Real County Sheriff Nathan T. Johnson told “The Hill” on Friday. “Even though she’s only about four or five miles from her home by the way the eagle flies, there’s a whole lot of rough terrain between here and there.”
The 3-year-old Gracie escaped her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in Leakey, located within Texas Hill Country, earlier this month, setting off a highly publicized search.
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Johnson said foliage and Gracie’s “natural camouflage from the Good Lord” helped conceal the animal as she roamed.
But the giraffe was located this week with the aid of a game camera and aircraft. The animal was on private property with natural food sources, said Jones, who described the 1,200-pound Gracie as “fat and happy.”
“She was just on a little fling, and we’re happy that we at least located her. Now, we’ve got to get her home safe.”
He said Gracie’s owner is making arrangements to sedate the animal and load her into a special trailer that will transport her under the supervision of veterinarians. Johnson said he’s optimistic things will end well.
The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the nation. Johnson told The Associated Press the mild climate and rugged terrain serves as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.
“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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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