Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Roy still critical, suffers paralysis

Mirage stage show permanently closed after 5,750 performances

Eight-year-old Harrison Rodis reads a sign posted at Roy Horn's home near Rancho and Vegas drives. Horn, of the famed Siegfried & Roy magic act, was mauled Friday by a white tiger while onstage. Photo by John Locher. Dot Cowper of San Antonio, Texas, visits the Siegfried and Roy statue in front of The Mirage on Monday to pay tribute to Horn, who was critically injured Friday after a tiger attack. Photo by SAMANTHA CLEMENS / REVIEW-JOURNAL

Strip illusionist Roy Horn has suffered paralysis on his left side, according to a source at University Medical Center, where the entertainer remained Monday in critical condition.

Horn, who according to the source also suffered bone chips in his neck, has been able to communicate with doctors and perform some movements at their request.

On Sunday, the entertainer was able to move his right arm and right leg, said Bobby Baldwin, chief executive officer with Mirage Resorts. Horn was also able to move his left hand and left foot and give doctors the thumbs-up sign.

But a day after Baldwin and other friends, family and co-workers expressed hope in that bit of good news, show producers confirmed Monday that the stage show has closed permanently after 5,750 performances.

Horn was mauled on stage by a white tiger during a Friday evening performance of Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage. He was injured about 45 minutes into the show when the 7-year-old tiger, Montecore, refused Horn's command to lie down. The tiger locked its jaws on Horn's arm, and when Horn hit the animal with a microphone, it lunged at him, clamping his jaws on Horn's neck.

Horn suffered severe blood loss Friday night and during surgery he had to be resuscitated. He then suffered a stroke and had to undergo another surgery Saturday morning.

Horn's personal physician, Dr. Stephen Miller, declined to give details on Horn's progress Monday except to say that he's optimistic Horn will pull through.

"I can tell you that people don't realize he's such a tough cookie," Miller said. "I've been taking care of him for 10 years. He's a fighter."

Fans continued to pay tribute to the duo, signing cards and leaving flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of The Mirage.

Dot Cowper, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, was one of many tourists who visited the Siegfried and Roy statue in front of the resort to show support for the injured magician. She and others signed cards they hoped would encourage Horn and make him feel appreciated.

The show's closure, she said, "could be a great loss for a lot of people. Because he's such a talent and he cares so much for the animals ... The world is so crazy at the moment. I think animals and children, especially, need people like these guys."

But animal activist organizations used the attack to urge the entertainers to retire the animals.

"They boast of how gentle their exotic cats are, and how they raise them and live with them as pets," said Nicole Paquette, director of legal and government affairs for the Sacramento, Calif.-based Animal Protection Institute. "If this could happen to someone with their background, it most certainly can and will happen to those with far less experience. This demonstrates how even the most unassuming wild animals can prove to be dangerous."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals faxed a letter to the hospital that wished Horn a full recovery. In the next breath, however, the group said the tigers should be retired.

"Perhaps Friday's frightening incident will make you realize that a brightly lit stage with pounding music and a screaming audience is not the natural habitat for tigers, lions, or any other exotic animals," Dan Mathews, PETA's vice president, wrote in the letter.

Neither the state of Nevada nor Clark County regulates the safety of Strip shows featuring tigers or other exotic animals, officials said. That task falls to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Jim Rogers, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA, said Monday that the agency is looking into Friday night's attack.

He said he couldn't comment on specifics because the investigation is ongoing, but added that the several most recent inspections of Siegfried and Roy's operation turned up no problems.

Federal regulations state only: "During public exhibition, any animal must be handled so there is minimal risk of harm to the animal and to the public, with sufficient distance and/or barriers between the animal and the general viewing public so as to assure the safety of animals and the public."

Though Clark County has no role in regulating how the animals are handled, it is in charge of making sure the tiger that attacked Horn is quarantined for 10 days to certify it does not have rabies, a standard procedure in all animal bite cases, said Joe Boteilho, the county's animal control manager.

If the tiger does not have rabies, he said, it will be released back to its owners. After that, the county has no role in its future.

"It's their animal," he said. "They can do what they want with it."

He said that aside from the rabies test, the tiger is undergoing no other medical evaluation.

"All they're doing is keeping the animal isolated," he said.

Dirk Arthur and Rick Thomas, the only other Las Vegas magicians who use tigers and exotic felines in their acts, have not made changes in their shows in light of the attack.

Scott Groseclose, who leases the showroom at the Jackie Gaughan-owned Plaza where Arthur performs, said hotel management made no request for changes. "It's business as usual," Groseclose said.

"We stand behind Dirk and his safety record for the past 20 years that is 100 percent."

Thomas said he performed this weekend and Monday shows at the Tropicana as usual, and said he saw "nothing different in the audience response" to the tigers.

Thomas said he is licensed by the USDA but sets his own safety policies, such as the rule that cast members can be no closer than six feet to any caged animal.

UMC spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger said hospital officials are scheduled to hold a news conference today to discuss Horn's situation.

Local neurosurgeon Lonnie Hammargren said Monday he has spoken at length with the performer's brain surgeon, Derek Duke. Hammargren declined to discuss detailed information regarding Horn's case, and Duke did not return phone calls Monday.

"Dr. Duke has done exactly what he should have at every stage of the game," Hammargren said.

A penetrating neck wound caused by a bullet, a knife or, in Horn's case, the bite of a large animal, can rip arteries in the neck that supply blood to the brain,

The damaged blood vessels can then cause a stroke, he said.

"Between the two arteries, that's the entire blood supply to the brain," Hammargren said.

The two arteries are the carotid, which supplies blood to the front of the brain, and the vertebra, which supplies blood to the back area of the brain.

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts, causing the brain to begin to die due to a lack of oxygen, according to the American Stroke Association. Strokes can cause paralysis and impaired vision or speech.

Though the show will no longer play, the outdoor Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy attraction will remain open.

"It's a stand-alone part of The Mirage and completely fits in with the personality," said MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman.

Review-Journal writers Mike Weatherford, Joelle Babula and Jeff Simpson contributed to this report.