Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.
SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Roy Horn remained in critical condition at University Medical Center on Thursday night after last week's onstage tiger attack during the Siegfried & Roy show, Mirage spokeswoman Yvette Monet said.
His condition has been virtually unchanged since the attack, the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, animal experts say the 7-year-old tiger, Montecor, wasn't trying to help Roy Horn when the beast sunk its fangs into the illusionist's neck and dragged him off stage during a performance.
"The cat wasn't trying to protect him," said Jonathan Kraft, a big cat expert who runs Keepers of the Wild, a nonprofit organization based in Golden Valley, Ariz. "The cat was going for the jugular. That was a typical killing bite."
The reaction came after Siegfried Fischbacher of "Siegfried & Roy" appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" show Wednesday night.
Fischbacher told King and other media outlets that the 600-pound Royal White tiger named Montecore was coming to the aid of Horn after the performer tripped and fell during the show Oct. 3 at The Mirage.
"That's exactly what I think," Fischbacher said. "Roy fall and he want protect, because that's danger, you know? So he took Roy and put him backstage behind the curtain... To protect him. And then he let Roy go and went back."
Fischbacher said the tiger didn't intend to kill Horn. If that was the case, he said, "I wouldn't be here, Roy wouldn't be here."
Louis Dorfman, a Dallas animal behaviorist and big cat expert, said Fischbacher's account was "a beautiful story but it just doesn't wash."
When Horn fell, Dorfman said, it probably triggered some predatory instinct in the cat.
"If Roy hadn't fallen down, the attack wouldn't have happened," said Dorfman, who works with the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary in Texas.
Kraft didn't have any doubts about the attack or the big cat's intentions.
"I'm not buying it," he said. "I think it's absolute insanity to make those kind of statements. The cat made a killing bite."
MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman didn't dispute Fischbacher, who was backstage at the time of the incident, but cautioned that the full story probably won't be known until Horn can talk.
Feldman, who said he has not seen video of the attack, said Horn gave Montecore a command. The animal did not obey, and suddenly grabbed the performer's arm with its mouth in a moment of confusion.
Feldman said Horn fell down and the tiger went for his throat. The tiger dragged Horn off stage. Show employees had to use fire extinguishers to get the animal to release Horn, who was bleeding profusely, Feldman said. The tiger then retreated to its transport box, Feldman said.
Las Vegas veterinarian Joanne Stefanatos, who keeps two African lions and an American mountain lion, all abandoned by other keepers, said such a tiger attack could happen to anyone who deals with big cats.
"It's a terrible situation," Stefanatos said. "It could happen at any time to anyone who works with these animals."
Bernie Yuman, Siegfried & Roy's personal manager, said the illusionist and animal trainer has communicated by squeezing hands and blinking his eyes in answer to questions by doctors, nurses and friends.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the incident. The tiger is in isolation at the Mirage's "Secret Garden" until Monday.
Horn insisted that the animal not be put to death as he was transported by ambulance to the hospital after the attack.
"Definitely they are not going to kill the tiger," Stefanatos said.
Perhaps animal acts on the Las Vegas Strip will take more precautions to protect the audience, the veterinarian said.
"Hotels should be responsible for the safety of the public," Stefanatos said.
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