Monday, Oct. 6, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.
Las Vegas zoo director Pat Dingle called Roy Horn "peerless among animal trainers," but said that "unfortunately, reality hit the stage" Friday night.
Montecore, a 7-year-old male tiger that has appeared onstage with the magician team of Siegfried & Roy hundreds of times over the past several years, attacked Horn halfway through the 7:30 p.m., 90-minute performance at the Mirage.
The animal first grabbed Horn's arm then, when Horn began hitting it with a hand-held microphone, grabbed the magician by the throat and dragged him offstage.
Dingle noted the basic truth about animals.
"These are not domesticated cats," Dingle said. "All of the wild instincts are there.
"Trainers suppress the instincts, try to modify them, but they have never gotten rid of them."
Two other magicians in Las Vegas use tigers and other wild animals in their acts: Rick Thomas at the Tropicana and Dirk Arthur at the Plaza.
In a statement, Thomas said his thoughts and prayers were with Horn. The statement said he would continue his show.
According to his website Thomas has eight tigers.
Arthur, who recently moved his show from the Silverton, said, "We all are praying that Roy is going to pull through, of course.
"Unfortunately, this danger is a part of the animal business -- just like race car drivers have accidents, or deep sea divers. There are inherent dangers. Working with wild animals is a dangerous profession, and this shows you how dangerous."
Arthur had high praise for Roy -- who, along with Siegfried, has been a Vegas icon for more than 30 years.
"Roy is very careful" said Arthur, who has used wild animals in his act for 22 years. "He is one of the most humane people I know, absolutely the best in the business."
He said he doubts that Horn panicked and then struck the tiger on the head with a microphone.
"My guess would be that the animal probably was trained so that a touch to the head would signal it to release," Arthur said. "Roy would not be one to panic."
Arthur, who performs at the Plaza at 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, has 13 wild cats, including tigers and panthers. He has his own breeding program with white tigers and has donated several to zoos and other facilities.
"It just reminds us all to be extra safe, extra careful," Arthur said.
Arthur says fans may be lulled by flawless performances into thinking the wild animals are not dangerous.
"The animals are loving and affectionate and adapt really well to being in a show," he said. "But the part of the show where the audience sees animals behaving perfectly, it takes years of training and experience to achieve.
"I would say 99.9 percent of the time it's safe. But every now and then something like this happens."
Arthur has never suffered an injury inflicted by one of his animals.
"I'm very proud of my record," he said. "No injuries, and none of my people have been injured. Not even a close call.
"I may have the only perfect record in animal training, but that doesn't mean something won't happen tomorrow."
Arthur says he strives to remain alert, no matter how safe and affectionate his animals may seem.
"I use extreme caution all the time," he said. "It's traumatic for the animal if something goes awry, but it's never the animal's fault."
Without having been there, Arthur says it's hard to say what caused the attack.
"Anything could have triggered it," he said. "It's hard to analyze what's going on in an animal's mind. I hate to speculate, without talking to Roy."
Generally speaking, almost anything can set off an animal.
"If some of the lighting is different, or there is a loud noise or something else that could startle the cat and for a few seconds make it forget its training," Arthur said.
He said he can't imagine the tiger being destroyed as a result of the attack.
"If it happened to me, the animal would never be harmed," Arthur said. "Destroying it would be the furthest thing from my mind."
Whether the tiger should be allowed to return to the stage is a different issue.
"It's purely a judgment call of the owner whether to work with the animal again," Arthur said. "Sometimes, in the interest of safety, you won't do that part of the show again."
Dingle said the zoo has a single tiger that has been at the park for 21 years.
"We don't train animals," Dingle said. "We don't put on shows. We just create a natural environment for educational purposes."
He said it was no fault of the tiger that one of its natural instincts surfaced.
"No fault is put on the tiger at all," Dingle said.
Should the animal be allowed to return to the stage in the future?
"I wouldn't trust him," said Dingle, who has several scars on his arms from attacks by African lions.
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