Siegried&Roy on 10-20 Biography

[Rgirl]

Siegried & Roy's story is featured on tonight's Biography. The 8pm airing just showed on the east coast (it will rerun at 12pm) and gave an interesting view of the accident Roy Horn experienced with the tiger. I won't make this a spoiler for those who want to watch, but will add what they covered tomorror for those who don't get Biography or who missed it.
Rgirl

 

[Rgirl]

For those who missed it or don't get the A&E channel, although it was acknowledged that nobody would ever know what the tiger was really intending, the witnesses presented gave this account:
The tiger, Montecore, grabbed hold of Roy Horn's wrist but was not biting him. After verbal cues failed to get Montecore to release, Horn "tapped" the tiger on his nose. When Montecore released Horn's wrist, Horn stumbled backwards and fell over either his own or the tiger's leg (this wasn't clear). It was when Horn fell down that Montecore grabbed him by the neck. According to a veteranarian interviewed for "Biography," this is a tiger's instinctual response whenever it sees one of its cubs or another tiger in trouble or in some kind of confusing situation. According to the vet, the Montecore did not bite Horn because if it had, Horn's neck would have been torn apart. The vet also said that tigers and tiger cubs can safely absorb the pressure of a tiger's teeth in this kind of hold, but a human can't. When Montecore had dragged Horn offstage, witnesses report that Horn said, "Do not shoot the tiger." A stagehand sprayed Montecore in the face with a fire extinguisher, which caused the animal to release Horn.

As was said, nobody will ever know what the tiger intended to do, but given the reports of Horn's gentleness and patience with the animals he worked with by people who knew and worked with him and his 40-plus years of working with tigers, lions, cheetahs, and other wild cats without ever being attacked, this story at least made sense to me. The backstory on Siegried and Roy, who both grew up in postwar Germany, was also very interesting.

Although animal acts aren't my style no matter how well-treated they are (I'm a Penn and Teller girl myself), Roy Horn certainly seemed devoted to animal preservation and conservation, and also seemed to genuinely love and have a rare ability to communicate with animals. I hope his recovery continues to go well.
Rgirl

 

[mpal2]

I got caught up in this and missed the Peggy Fleming one on Lifetime. Oh well...

I thought the veternarian's explanation made more sense as well. I had a hard time figuring out how the tiger could have attacked out of viciousness/anger without killing him. Just the little love nips from my house cat hurt so I can imagine what a tiger could do.

I thought they did a good job of explaining it especially when they showed an adult tiger carrying a baby tiger by the neck and explained that it was consistent with the bite marks in Roy's neck. I loved it when the former (?) owner of the Mirage said that Roy's first response when he sees that tiger again will be love and reassurance to the animal.

As scary as Roy's health is right now, the people interviewed were doing their best to keep a positive note.

It was a great biography and I loved the pictures of the "babies" running through the back yard. They are such beautiful animals. I also thought it was funny when Siegfried said that all the animals would follow when Roy got up in the morning and waited for him to finish showering. He said no one cared when he got up.

 

[Rgirl]

I agree with your post, Mpal. Aside from the vet and some of the people in S&R's inner circle, I was especially impressed with Penn Gillette (I'm a big Penn & Teller fan anyway). He's such a no-BS guy, his and Teller's style of performing is the polar opposite of S&R, and I can't imagine Penn speaking anything but the truth as he knows it about Roy Horn. And yes, the little bits of humor, such as the thing about how the animals only care when Roy takes his shower, and the way they showed how tigers pick up their cubs made for an effective show. And good point about "love nips" from house cats. But shoot, I forgot that the Peggy Fleming bio on Lifetime was on at the same time. Hopefully they'll reshow it.
Rgirl

 

[windspirit]

According to a veteranarian interviewed for "Biography," this is a tiger's instinctual response whenever it sees one of its cubs or another tiger in trouble or in some kind of confusing situation. According to the vet, the Montecore did not bite Horn because if it had, Horn's neck would have been torn apart.

I agree that if the tiger had wanted Roy dead, he would have been dead. But I'm not sure about the previous part. I've read an interview with some animal trainer and he said that male tigers didn't do that (took cubs by their necks to safety, etc.) That's female tigers' instinct.

When Montecore had dragged Horn offstage, witnesses report that Horn said, "Do not shoot the tiger." A stagehand sprayed Montecore in the face with a fire extinguisher, which caused the animal to release Horn.

On Larry King Siegfried said that the tiger took Roy backstage, released him there immediately and went into his cage (as he had always done after going backstage) -- all by himself. I don't know if that's true, but after listening to him for an hour I thought he's in deep denial about the whole thing. "Oh, the tigers love Roy so much, they would never hurt him."

My guess is (and it's just that, a guess), that the tiger -- for whatever reasons -- didn't want to listen to Roy and just "took him out of his way".