I don't approve of animal acts for the most part, but S&R's tigers are something like ambassadors for the species, and raise awareness of their plight.
I agree. If you haven't been to The Mirage, toured the Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden, seen the animal enclosures and seen a performance, you truly have no clue. These animals are VERY well cared for. Preserving habitat and endangered species has been a lifelong commitment for both of these gentlemen. They have created a huge rainforest inside the Mirage, where endangered animals can live out their natural lives, when their native habitat has been destroyed. These gentlemen love these animals and have spent literally millions of their own money supporting environmental and wildlife causes.
The tiger enclosures at the Mirage are state of the art natural habitats, and the animals are rotated off public view to a private enclosure often. These animals are in no way mistreated, and seeing these animals live and hearing S&R speak of their loss of habitat, poaching, etc. has done as much, if not more, to help endangered animals than any other effort in the US.
Roy hit the Tiger BEFORE the tiger bit him..............so, he got what he deserved.
That's a really nasty thing to say, IMO. They put on six shows a week, 44 weeks per year and have been onstage in Las Vegas for more than 35 years. That is a LOT of shows, and this is the first serious incident. Obviously, if they were abusing these animals, they could not have kept up this show schedule for 35 years. The article I read said he "tapped" the tiger on the nose, not "hit" it. This is consistent with what I saw at their shows, a light tap at the very most, usually with fingertips, just to get the animals' attention. I'm sure a "tap" with a microphone was not sufficient to injure a 600 pound tiger. I think saying that he "got what he deserved" is more than a bit callous and unfeeling. This is a man who has devoted his life to the plight of the wild tiger and it's habitat.
http://entertainment.msn.com/news/ar...px?news=136461
"We give dogs the time we can spare, the space we can spare and the love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made" - M. Facklam
"We are raised to honor all the wrong explorers and discoverers - thieves planting flags, murderers carrying crosses. Let us at last praise the colonizers of dreams."- P.S. Beagle
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Bookmarks