Friday, Aug. 08, 2008

Westlake: A Camel Grazes Where the Buffalo Roam

By A. Lee Graham

Staff Writer

Teddy turns heads wherever he roams — and in a fenced field skirting Texas 114, that’s not very far.

"He’s a mystery to me. I mean, why is he out there?" said Jim Rozek, who watches the camel graze with a buffalo herd on Circle T Ranch in Westlake.

Others share Rozek’s fascination. They pull off the freeway, sometimes snapping photos of a creature that stands out among the herd.

But why the lone camel? How did he join the buffalo that roam Ross Perot Jr.’s ranchland.

"Teddy’s been there for about five years," said David Pelletier, director of corporate communications for Hillwood Properties, which owns the 2,500-acre ranch.

Given to the Perot family as a gift, Teddy quickly stood out among the herd.

"Obviously, a camel needs room to roam, so it made sense for Teddy to be out at the ranch," Pelletier said.

The lone camel is hard to miss. Loping alongside his rust-colored companions, the cud-chewing creature makes no fuss.

"He does stand out," said Scott Bradley, former Westlake mayor and proponent of Westlake’s rural heritage. But even someone considered an authority on Westlake history couldn’t explain why buffalo — let alone a camel — lope lazily along a state highway. "Maybe they’re there for show," said Bradley.

He is correct.

"The buffalo are there mainly for marketing purposes," Pelletier said. "So people driving by will see the herd grazing at the ranch, people understand it’s a ranch."

And when a third anchor tenant claims space at a shopping mall planned just south of where Texas 114 and 170 intersect, a large chunk of the Circle T will change.

Despite Fidelity Investments, the Vaquero development and the planned mall — not to mention Deloitte LLP’s newly announced training facility — Teddy and his four-footed friends have nothing to worry about. They can expect plenty of room to roam.

But with Twisted Root Burger Co. planning a Roanoke store, some of the critters may want to lay low. After all, its Dallas location boasts buffalo burgers as top sellers.