ABC’s Strange Story Concerning Roy HornInside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

There is an ambiguously intended article on the ABC News website titled, No Illusions Here: Attack on Roy Horn Highlights Big Cat Dangers for Other Performers.

The network quotes Branson illusionist Kirby VanBurch’s speculation on the cause of the tiger attack that nearly took Roy Horn’s life on October 3, 2003 as well as the “three phases” of a tiger’s anger.

The troubling part of the article and news piece is that it seems the network is using Mr. VanBurch’s speculation of what the tiger was thinking as it attacked Roy as news to rehash the public attacks on Siegfried and Roy’s show. To his credit, Mr. VanBurch is quoted as saying Roy was the best in the industry for handling his animals.

It could be that I am overly defensive of Siegfried and Roy and, in particular, Roy’s handling of the attack that could and would have likely injured or killed people in the front rows of the theater.

The article reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the Siegfried & Roy act to determine whether there was any violation of the Animal Welfare Act. We checked with the Department of Agriculture but there is no press release or news concerning this investigation.

The article quotes several folks with their opinions on what happened. ABC quotes Branson magician Kirby VanBurch as saying, “There’s no doubt in my mind that the tiger intended to kill Roy.” Mr. VanBurch did not see the attack and apparently based his opinion as to the tiger’s intention on his previously seeing the show four times in the past.

Mr. VanBurch told ABC that “he doesn’t buy theories that the…

There is an ambiguously intended article on the ABC News website titled, No Illusions Here: Attack on Roy Horn Highlights Big Cat Dangers for Other Performers.

Mr. VanBurch told ABC that “he doesn’t buy theories that the tiger was distracted by the audience, or tried to protect Horn when he fell.” He opined, “Either Roy fell or his posture changed and it was a weakness. Tigers, sensing weakness, can quickly turn on their trainers.”

Mr. VanBurch then provided an explanation of the three stages of anger in a tiger’s behavior.

“A phase one is if the cat were to grab you by the arm. You have to stop it by patting them on the nose. Now, phase two is when the cat bears down harder. And what it’s doing is its establishing authority.”

VanBurch related that in phase two, he would stand up against the cat, assert his authority, and the animal will back down every single time.

But, VanBurch is quoted as saying, there is phase three where, “the cat says: ‘No, are you really, really in charge? Prove it. That’s a very serious thing ? it’s a killing time.”

Your options at this moment, when phase three is reached, is to spray the tiger with a fire extinguisher, a blow gun or shoot to kill the tiger.

Read the article here.