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A runaway three-year-old giraffe was found by helicopter on Friday two weeks after escaping from its home on a private ranch in Texas.
The 1,200-pound giraffe, named Gracie, wandered from her unfenced enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in Leakey, Texas, on June 12.
The 10-metre-long animal was found by helicopter on Friday morning about four kilometers south of the farm in a remote, heavily forested area.
Vick Jones, who runs the farm, told FOX 7 that Gracie moved there in May and wasn't used to her surroundings when she was roaming around.
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Although she was 10 feet tall, Gracie hid in the Texas Hill Country for two weeks. (Vic Jones via AP)
He explained that he probably didn't mean to leave the farm, but he was eating in an area of the farm that the giraffes had never had before and he went out and came back from the wrong side of the gate.
Gracie is one of two giraffes living in the area.
“Just one bad deal that happened, you know?” he said at the station. “And indirectly, as I say, we've never had giraffes go up to that place before and you did.”
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Jones decided to post a missing Gracie alert on the local lost and found app.
“I just thought that maybe some of the people in the area on the farms, people who work on some of these farms could see that or hear about it and give me an idea of how it might have gotten out of this area,” Jones explained. “And 24 hours later, it's all over the world.”
Gracie was finally seen by helicopter two weeks later. (IFX 7)
The post quickly went viral, with people creating AI images of Gracie everywhere from working as a lifeguard at a pool, as a firefighter who doesn't need a ladder or floating on a lazy river float.
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“Now I know what the word viral means,” Jones joked.
Real Estate Manager Nathan Johnson said Jones called a veterinarian after Gracie was found Friday, and they were preparing to send a team to return her to the farm.
“He's in good shape,” Jones said. “It's standing there, wagging its tail.”
He also insisted that he was a mild-mannered criminal who was not a danger to anyone.
Gracie lives in the Texas Hill Country. (Josh Noel/Chicago Tribune)
“When you get close to him, he moves away,” he said.
Gracie was found in a private clearing next to a pond and stream and had a lot of plants to eat.
On the trip home, Gracie will need to be sedated, with a blindfold placed over her eyes, after which she will be transported in a ventilated cart, then an enclosed trailer designed for giraffes.
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The Texas Hill Country has one of the most captive animals in the US and Johnson said in the past he has called in lost monkeys and zebras but no giraffes.
Despite requiring jackhammering to the rock, Jones said he now plans to install a fence around Gracie's enclosure.
