LOL Nope. Copy and pasted:LAS VEGAS, Oct. 4 -- Magician Roy Horn, who was attacked and mauled by a white tiger during a performance here Friday night, was in critical condition late Saturday after neck surgery, hospital officials said. A shocked Las Vegas was left to wonder whether the signature act of Siegfried & Roy would ever be seen again on the gambling mecca's glittering resort strip.
The Mirage Hotel, where Siegfried & Roy mixed classic illusions with exotic animals in a special 1,500-seat theater, announced that the act would be closed indefinitely. In a spontaneous tribute to the injured entertainer, large crowds flocked on Saturday to the Taj Mahal-style enclosure at the Mirage where Siegfried & Roy's white tigers and lions are displayed.
In a show that regularly sold out at $110.50 per seat, according to the Mirage Web site, Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn and his partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, appeared to make a giant Thai elephant disappear into thin air and leaping lions hover over the floor. But Horn, who celebrated his 59th birthday Friday, was unable to control a
7-year-old white tiger named Montecore Friday night.Audience members told KLAS-TV here that Horn trotted the tiger onto the stage about 45 minutes into his act and introduced the tiger to the audience as a proud father would. Shortly thereafter, though, Montecore lunged at Horn's arm. The magician tried in vain to drive the animal away with a microphone; instead, the tiger bared its fangs and sunk them into Horn's neck.
Andy Cushman, who was in the audience, said the animal then dragged Horn across the stage "like a rag doll." Assistants rushed in to free the magician, giving the tiger tranquilizer shots so it could be removed unharmed. Horn was raced to Las Vegas's University Medical Center and immediately underwent 2 1/2 hours of surgery.
At the hospital, Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach told reporters, "They tried to put a tube down his throat, and he fought that, which is a good sign." Leinbach said Horn was alert and speaking before being taken into surgery.
According to a spokesman for the act, Friday's attack was the first time that either Horn or Siegfried, 64, had been injured in the 36 years they have performed together in Las Vegas.
"They have performed more than 5,700 shows, and there's never been an incident like this," said the spokesman, David Kirvin.
Kirvin said that the doctors treating Horn "do expect him to survive, but it will be several days before the extent of his injuries [is] known and what kind of recovery period we're looking at."
The pair were born in Germany and met in 1959 on a ship on which Fischbacher was performing. Eight years later, they performed in Las Vegas for the first time, appearing in "Folies Bergere" at the Tropicana.
Of the two, the brown-haired Horn -- he described himself as "the only brunette in our act" -- has always had a special rapport with animals. He told an interviewer a few years ago that he sleeps with his tigers. The pair work to conserve the endangered royal white tigers and white lions of Timbavati, and they breed some of the animals they own on the grounds of their home, called Jungle Palace, a compound on Las Vegas's outskirts.
Siegfried & Roy were a key element in Las Vegas's effort in the 1990s to turn itself into a family resort; promotional videos above the rows at slot machines at McCarran International Airport here show the pair cuddling while tiger cubs as if they were furry little kittens. At the Mirage, where a man-made volcano outside erupts 60 feet into the sky, a new "Siegfried & Roy Secret Garden" -- a zoo featuring the big white cats and a dolphin tank -- has a special entrance so children will not have to pass the sequined hostesses and the busy roulette tables to enter.
In a city where wretched excess is a matter of daily routine -- just across the street from that erupting volcano is a cluster of Venetian canals, complete with gondoliers warbling love songs, and there is a full-sized replica of the Eiffel Tower just down the street -- Siegfried & Roy fit nicely into the larger-than-life lifestyle with their elephants and exotic man-eaters.
"That's a big part of Vegas gone if Roy has to retire," said tour guide Curt Wanderlich.
In 1999, the pair were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the next year the International Magicians Society named them its Magicians of the Century. In 2001, they signed a lifetime contract with the Mirage for eight shows per week.
The illusionists have also played a role in the California recall election. The Los Angeles Times has reported that their manager, Bernie Yuman, contributed $150 in Belgian chocolates to the campaign of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, while Gov. Gray Davis (D) pledged in August that he would fight to retain his job "like one of those cool white tigers owned by Siegfried and Roy."
Reid reported from Las Vegas, Goldstein from Washington.
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