Saturday, October 04, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Tiger attacks Roy onstage

Illusionist listed in critical condition after bite to neck

Roy Horn Siegfried & Roy manager Bernie Yuman hugs Annee Nounna, a longtime friend of the magicians, outside University Medical Center, where Roy Horn was undergoing surgery following a tiger attack during the show Friday at The Mirage. At left is Siegfried & Roy's attorney, John Moran Jr. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett. MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman talks to media Friday outside University Medical Center, where magician Roy Horn was undergoing surgery following a tiger attack at The Mirage. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett.

A white tiger mauled superstar illusionist Roy Horn during a Friday night performance of Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage, severely injuring the Strip performer.

Horn, who turned 59 on Friday, got out of surgery shortly after 11:30 p.m. He was in critical condition at University Medical Center after suffering severe blood loss from a bite wound to the left side of his neck.

"The full extent of his injuries will not be known for two or three days," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said late Friday outside the hospital.

Horn had just brought the tiger onstage during the 7:30 p.m. performance and told audience members it was making its first appearance in the show.

Audience members said the tiger, a 7-year-old named Montecore who actually has performed in the show for years, refused a command to lie down and then clamped its jaws on Horn's right arm.

The magician repeatedly struck the animal in the head with a microphone, the sound reverberating throughout the auditorium.

The tiger then lunged at Horn, clamped its jaws around his neck and pulled him out of the audience's view, horrified tourists said after filing out of the show.

"He started beating the tiger with his microphone, and the next thing I know, Siegfried is running across the stage yelling, `No, no, no!' " said Tony Cohen, a tourist from Miami who was about 10 yards from the stage. "Then this thing, this tiger, it just took him right off the stage."

Emergency crews were dispatched to The Mirage at 8:21 p.m. Paramedics with Southwest Ambulance were on the scene of the attack by 8:25 p.m.

Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said paramedics found Horn suffering from severe blood loss and labored breathing. Paramedics worked to stop the bleeding as they loaded him into an ambulance and rushed him to the hospital.

"On the way, he was conscious, talking, and he had trouble breathing," Leinbach said. "He was talking about how his throat was bothering him."

Paramedics met resistance when they attempted to insert a tube into Horn's throat to help him breathe.

"They were trying to intubate him. He was fighting them, which is a good thing because that means he could breathe on his own," Leinbach said.

By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospital, paramedics had stopped the massive bleeding and Horn was rushed into surgery.

Horn's partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, 64, was among the friends who rushed to the hospital following the attack.

Other Strip headliners also were present.

The Scintas, the family of singers and impressionists who perform at the Rio, were informed of the attack as they came off stage Friday night. Frankie Scinta was outside the hospital shortly afterward awaiting word on Horn's condition.

"Whenever you work with animals it's a risk," Scinta said outside the hospital late Friday. "It's an unfortunate mishap, but they will bounce back. They're royalty in Las Vegas."

Magician Lance Burton, a mainstay at the Monte Carlo, also was at the hospital.

"I saw Roy just last night at his birthday party. He was in a fantastic mood. You just hate for anything like this to happen to anyone. You just hope for the best," Burton said.

Mirage officials reported that the incident happened about 45 minutes into the magicians' 7:30 p.m. show before 1,503 people. The show was the first of two 90-minute performances scheduled for Friday evening.

Horn was alone on stage when he introduced Montecore.

"This is his first time on stage," Horn said of the white tiger.

Feldman, the spokesman for MGM Mirage, said the animal actually has been performing in the show since it was 6 months old. "It's just a line in the show. It's meant to be a bit of a joke," he said.

The tiger refused Horn's command to lie down, audience members said, and appeared to take a playful pat at Horn, swinging a paw at the entertainer.

"He lost the chain (around the tiger's neck) and grabbed for it, but couldn't get it," Cohen said.

The tiger locked his jaws on Horn's right arm as Horn unsuccessfully struggled to free himself by striking the animal with the microphone. That's when the tiger lunged at Horn, clamping his jaws onto his neck.

"There were a couple of gasps, and people thought it was part of the act, and then it was real quiet," said audience member Paul D'Antonio, who sat about 15 feet from the stage.

The animal ran toward the side of the stage, dragging Horn from the view of most of the crowd. Horn appeared to be conscious.

"It literally drug him by his neck off the stage like a rag doll," D'Antonio said.

The stage curtains were thin, and people near the front of the showroom could hear muffled sounds. Some people backstage were yelling. A security guard and three men in black clothing ran across the stage to help.

Many of those watching were confused as to whether what was unfolding onstage was a scripted part of the duo's nightly spectacle.

"I thought it was part of the show," said Holger Droste, a tourist from Heidelberg, Germany, who attended with his wife. "The audience went quiet."

About five minutes after the attack, Fischbacher came out to address the audience.

"He said he was sorry, but they had to cancel the show," Droste said. "That's when I knew something was really wrong."

Audience members said Fischbacher, who then walked from the stage, was visibly shaken by what was occurring.

As lights came on and the crowd began filing out, women near the front of the showroom could be seen crying. Men and women comforted each other.

"People were in shock. They were just shaking their heads," D'Antonio said.

The attacking tiger, which was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and raised by a private breeder, was quarantined at The Mirage following the attack.

All performances of the show have been canceled until further notice.

Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke interviewed Horn over the phone about four hours before the incident.

Clarke said Horn was still excited about marking his birthday with about 600 friends and fans Thursday night in the same theater where he was attacked Friday.

During the interview, Horn said his advancing years did not bother him. "Old is not old to me. It is the spirit of the mind," Horn said.

Horn recounted Siegfried and Roy's debut at the Tropicana in the 1960s.

The only cat in the act, a cheetah, got spooked by the new surroundings and ran off the stage, landing on orchestra leader Ray Sinatra, whose toupee fell off.

As Chico the Cheetah took refuge atop a piano, the audience went crazy.

"That was our first standing ovation," Horn told Clarke.

In a 2001 interview, Horn told Clarke that his successful breeding program of the exotic big cats "is my legacy back to Las Vegas. Our children won't have to ask some day, `What happened to the animals?' If anything, I'd like to be remembered as the man who gave back the magic white lions and white tigers."

Bernie Yuman, the magicians' manager for 28 years, said there was nothing in Montecore's history suggesting it would be prone to an attack.

But Yuman noted, "They are exotic animals."

The German-born entertainers made their American debut in 1966 as a featured variety act in the Tropicana's "Folies Bergere."

They received their first star billing in 1978, as the headliners of the Stardust's "Lido de Paris." Their show "Beyond Belief" opened in 1981 at the Frontier and played for an estimated 3,500 performances over seven years.

Steve Wynn offered them a $57.5 million guarantee in 1990 to perform for five years at The Mirage. In February 2001, MGM Mirage gave the act a lifetime contract to perform at The Mirage.

At the time, the pair spoke of having periodically considered breaking up.

"Many times," Fischbacher acknowledged.

One of the most serious incidents came in 1975.

"MGM was going to split the act," he said. "Roy was going to MGM-Reno and I was going to stay here."

But it fell through and the partnership remained intact.

Review-Journal writer Michael Squires contributed to this report.