LEAKEY, Texas – A giraffe that escaped from a Hill Country ranch earlier this month is back home.
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Gracie was returned to the Cedar Hollow Ranch on Monday, according to the Real County Sheriff’s Office.
The two-story-tall giraffe disappeared from the ranch June 12, according to ranch manager Vick Jones. The search for Gracie made national headlines as people scoured the rough terrain to find her.
Jones said Gracie was spotted from a helicopter Friday. Crews started working to develop a plan to tranquilize her and load her onto a trailer to transport her back to the ranch.
A photo shared Monday by the Real County Sheriff’s Office showed the precocious mammal back inside the fence at Cedar Hollow Ranch.
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Gracie the giraffe stands in a pasture at Cedar Hollow Ranch on June 29, 2026. (Real County Sheriff’s Office / FOX Local)
According to Jones, the exotic-animal ranch has had giraffes for about 30 years. He said Gracie ventured into an area most of the giraffes don’t go and was able to get out of a gate.
“We released her into the canyon,” Jones said. “She actually started going up and feeding in an area we’d never had giraffes feed in before. It’s up on a rock slab, just a limestone slab, and she goes up the hill and went up over the mountain.”
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