Magician mauling: Tiger was going in for kill, say experts

Animal experts have said the mauling of Siegfried & Roy illusionist Roy Horn by a 42-stone tiger was no accident, claiming the animal was going for the jugular.

“The cat wasn’t trying to protect him,” said Jonathan Kraft, who runs Arizona-based non-profit group Keepers of the Wild. “That was a typical killing bite.

“I admire the guys, I just think they are sending a wrong message. The message needs to be: These are wild animals.”

Horn’s partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, said in interviews that the animal had been trying to help Horn after the illusionist slipped during last Friday’s performance in Las Vegas.

Fischbacher said he was backstage when the Royal White tiger named Montecore took hold of Horn’s neck and dragged him offstage. Show workers set off fire extinguishers to distract the tiger, which then scurried to his cage.

Fischbacher said Horn muttered after the attack: “Don’t harm the cat.”

Louis Dorfman, a Dallas animal behaviourist, said Fischbacher’s account of an accidental mauling was “a beautiful story but it just doesn’t wash”.

“Stress led to the bite,” said Dorfman, who works with the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary in Texas. “It was an outlet for his irritation. Roy got lucky.”

Siegfried & Roy debuted in 1990 at The Mirage and earned the hotel-casino about €41m a year.

The show’s 267 employees have now been told to find new jobs.

Horn, 59, was injured before a sellout performance of 1,500.

He remained in critical condition yesterday and could not speak. Fischbacher told The Associated Press that Horn suffered a stroke after the attack but was now communicating through hand signals.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the full story would probably not be known until Horn could talk.

Fischbacher hinted at a return to the stage if Horn recovered, saying the duo would “take a different path, I’m sure, but … the show is our life”.

The duo’s manager, Bernie Yuman, said Siegfried would never continue to perform without his long-time partner. “It is Siegfried and Roy and that’s the way it began and that’s the way it will always be,” he said.

The cat remains quarantined at the casino. The federal Agriculture Department is investigating the attack.