{"id":352586,"date":"2026-06-27T11:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/352586\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T11:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:57:21","slug":"escaped-giraffe-found-miles-from-enclosure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/352586\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaped giraffe found miles from enclosure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The viral giraffe who vanished<\/a> from a Texas ranch two weeks ago was spotted looking \u201cfat and happy\u201d just miles away from her home during her stint on the lam, authorities announced Friday. <\/p>\n

Sheriff Nathan T. Johnson told News4 San Antonio<\/a> that Gracie the giraffe had a \u201ccatch me if you can sucker\u2019s attitude\u201d when she was located during an aerial search. <\/p>\n

Gracie the giraffe was spotted after going missing over two weeks ago. Vic Jones via AP<\/p>\n

Gracie\u2019s owner, 72-year-old Vick Jones, had linked up with an aviation business to look for the missing mammal, the Real County Sheriff\u2019s Office wrote in a Friday morning update. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Jones has contacted his veterinarian and is putting a team together to safely capture Gracie and bring her home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials are coordinating with the owner\u2019s veterinarian to sedate Gracie for transport back to the ranch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones noted to News4 that, \u201cShe\u2019s in good shape. She\u2019s standing there, swishing her tail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The giraffe, who is around 4 years old, was found around four miles south from Cedar Hollow Ranch in Leakey, Texas, 100 miles from San Antonio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Jones, the giraffe likely holed up near a local creek and pond for the last seven days, surviving on the heavy brush in the area.<\/p>\n

Gracie the giraffe, captured on aerial footage. Sheriff Nathan T. Johnson<\/p>\n

Social media users were baffled about the giraffe\u2019s disappearance considering its large size. <\/p>\n

Reticulated giraffes can grow up to 16 feet tall, and weigh 2,600 pounds, according to the Denver Zoo. She is one of two giraffes on the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s a short giraffe. I\u2019m confused how you lose something that is 12 million feet tall,\u201d one user said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow the hell do you lose a giraffe?\u201d another user commented under a post about Gracie\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n

A wanted poster for the fugitive giraffe. Facebook \/ Traci Fant<\/p>\n

She disappeared while feeding on a hillside and wandering off through a gate. <\/p>\n

Many other young male giraffes escaped through an open gate, but they returned on their own, Jones told the New York Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The owner explained that Gracie accidentally bypassed the enclosure after climbing a rocky slope to forage, inadvertently descending onto the wrong side of an open gate.<\/p>\n

Securing the perimeter is uniquely challenging, as workers have to blast through solid stone just to anchor the fence posts.<\/p>\n

While this is the first missing giraffe reported, Sheriff Johnson noted to News4<\/a> he has previously had reports of missing wildebeests, water buffalo, zebras, and monkeys in the area.<\/p>\n

The Real County Sheriff\u2019s Office could not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The viral giraffe who vanished from a Texas ranch two weeks ago was spotted looking \u201cfat and happy\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[244,17725,3167,27,29,28,734],"class_list":["post-352586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-animals","tag-cute-animals","tag-escapes","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}