Vic Jones is still looking for Gracie, the missing giraffe who escaped Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country nearly two weeks ago. The 3-year-old animal has not been found, and Jones has used helicopters and a $5,000 reward to push the search across rural Real County.
Jones said Gracie wandered into a hillside area with rocky ledges that other giraffes had avoided, then came down on the wrong side of the gate. By Wednesday, the search was still unresolved.
Vic Jones and the search area
Jones owns Cedar Hollow Ranch, about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said the search has covered about 7,500 acres and that a few sightings have trickled in as crews try to follow the latest information.
“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”
Jones also said the terrain has made the search difficult. “People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” he said. “She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”
Real County and past losses
Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said this was his first missing giraffe in the area. He said other exotic animals have gone missing there over the years.
“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 search has also been complicated by timing. Jones said crews are often arriving after the latest reports have already gone stale. “We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” he said.
For now, the reward remains posted and the search continues in rural Real County. Where Gracie is now is still the unanswered part of the case.
