Gracie the Giraffe, who set the internet ablaze when she disappeared for almost two weeks in the Texas desert, was found Friday morning during an aerial helicopter search.
Vick Jones, who is the manager of the ranch from which Gracie escaped, participated in a helicopter scouting mission with Jeff Hill of Concho Aviation around 6:45 AM on Friday. While they were aloft, Hill spotted Gracie roughly four miles south of Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to a report from the Real County Sheriff’s Office.
“She’s standing. She’s very calm. She looked good,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of water there, a lot of food, stuff like that. She’s looking good, doing good.”
Others who had taken part in the extensive search for Gracie expressed similar elation upon finding the elusive giraffe.
“We found her. She’s fat and happy,” said Real County Sheriff Nathan T. Johnson, joking about her “catch-me-if-you-can, sucker” attitude. “We’re going to have to bring in a team and sedate her.”
As the Daily Wire previously reported, Gracie, a 4-year-old reticulated giraffe with rounded ears, escaped Cedar Hollow Ranch in Real County, Texas. Cedar Hollow Ranch is a private exotic animal breeding facility that is home to hundreds of animals, including Nubian ibexes, antelope, impalas, and other animals native to Africa and the Middle East.
The giraffe reportedly vanished after feeding on an isolated hillside, finding an unfenced area opposite an 8-foot-tall gate. Jones said the giraffe would walk around the ranch “like none of the others did,” adding that Gracie would often go to secluded areas and “eat on the tree limbs.”
Reticulated giraffes around Gracie’s age are about 14-16 feet tall and can run up to 35 mph in short bursts, according to the Denver Zoo. The species of giraffe is listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List.
The disappearance of the giraffe made waves on the internet, with many users creating fake AI-generated videos and images depicting Gracie “sightings,” My San Antonio News reported.