Roy Still Critical After Tiger Attack
LAS VEGAS – Famed performer Roy Horn of the Siegfried & Roy duo remained in critical condition Monday after being mauled by a tiger, and the show has been canceled indefinitely, officials said.
About 200 fans and show employees stood outside the hospital at University Medical Center Sunday night, where Horn, 59, is being treated. He suffered a severe wound to his neck when the 7-year-old male tiger named Montecore attacked Friday night in front of hundreds of people. Officials said Sunday he had improved and could move his hands and feet.
With the show’s future uncertain, about 267 employees are out of a job.
MGM Mirage officials said the show was “closed indefinitely.” They added that even if Horn recovers, it’s unclear whether he would ever be able to perform again in the rigorous show.
“We are not going to sugarcoat this,” MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said.
Show employees were wondering if the company would pay out the rest of their contracts.
“We are worried about him, but we also basically lost our jobs,” said 42-year-old Mary Bryan, a single mother who worked with the acrobats. “We gave this show our heart and soul. It’s awful we have to think about money at a time like this.”
MGM Mirage officials have promised to help employees land new jobs.
Without the show, the fate of the tigers is also unknown. Montecore continues to be quarantined at the hotel, officials said.
Horn had never been injured during a show before, “not a scratch, not by an animal,” said Bernie Yuman, the pair’s longtime manager, who added none of the 63 exotic cats “have ever shown aggression on stage.”
Horn, along with longtime partner Siegfried Fischbacher, have been a staple on the Las Vegas Strip for years, performing their magic show to sold-out crowds at The Mirage since 1990.
The illusionists, who put on one of the most well-known and expensive Las Vegas shows with their signature white tigers and lions, signed a lifetime contract with the resort in 2001.
The German-born pair perform six shows a week, 44 weeks per year and have been onstage in Las Vegas for more than 35 years. They have done about 5,700 shows since coming The Mirage in 1990.
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