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Detail picture of the front of a Giraffa antiquorum animal
Giraffes are not native to Texas, and you might think it would be pretty easy to track down one of those animals if they were able to make their way into the wild. However, one that was living on a ranch in Hill Country has managed to disappear for more than a week as her owners and local officials continue to attempt to track her down.
Texas is home to thousands of different species of animals that roam the second-largest state in America, but you don’t need to be a wildlife expert to know giraffes aren’t one of them.
The mammals, which have the distinction of being the largest land animals on the planet, are native to 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, although they can also be found in plenty of zoos and sanctuaries around the globe.
That includes a private ranch in Texas that recently welcomed a giraffe named Gracie only to encounter an unexpected situation earlier this month after she not only managed to escape but did a pretty solid job evading capture.
A giraffe was reportedly tracked down in Texas around a week and a half after it escaped from a ranch
According to The New York Times, Cedar Hollow Ranch added a new member to its menagerie of the exotic animals it breeds and sells in May in the form of Gracie, a female reticulated giraffe that’s believed to be between three-and-a-half and four years old.
The ranch is located in Leakey, a tiny town in Texas Hill Country that’s located around 100 miles west of San Antonio, and it appears that name can also apply to the fences that failed to prevent its new arrival from escaping the confines of the preserve.
Gracie was grazing near a canyon last week when she managed to make her way over an eight-foot gate, and the Real County Sheriff’s Office was officially informed of her disappearance on June 18th.
The ranch dispatched drones and hired helicopters to try to track her down while appealing to the public with a message that noted her “rounded ears” on the off-chance she was confused with another giraffe roaming around in the area (it also offered a $5,000 reward for information concerning her whereabouts).
There were some leads earlier this week in the form of “reports of sightings and pictures of her at nearby ranches,” but Gracie (whose height was not specified but is a member of a species where females can grow up to 16 feet) has done a pretty impressive job eluding her pursuers.
That includes a spotting on Tuesday night that led to a number of outlets reporting she had been safely captured, but according to News4 San Antonio, both the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and Real County Animal-Rescue Shelter have confirmed she is still on the loose as of Wednesday morning.
This giraffe-related saga began to unfold around the same time law enforcement officials in Virginia announced they had managed to track down two baby giraffes that had gone missing more than a year after disappearing from a private zoo.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the story and will provide an update if she is finally tracked down.