Photo: Siegfried & Roy/The Mirage via Getty
Fifteen years after theinfamous tiger attack during Siegfried and Roy’s popular Las Vegas showat The Mirage hotel, one of the show’s handlers is sharing his account of what happened during that fateful performance.
During an in-depth interview, Chris Lawrence toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat the version of events that was shared with the public — that Roy Horn suffered a stroke during the 2003 show and Mantacore the tiger grabbed onto Horn in an attempt to save him — is incorrect.
“I fell over. Mantacore saw that I was falling down. So he actually took me and brought me to the other exit where everybody could get me and help me. He knew better than I did where to go,”Horn told PEOPLEof the incident in 2004.
Horn was rushed to the hospital following the incident. Despite severe blood loss, brain trauma andgoing “code blue” three times during the night, Horn survived and went through intense physical therapy to recover from his injuries. Today, Horn lives with show partner Siegfried Fischbacher, who helps him with day-to-day tasks, and has regained much of his mobility.
Lawrence, one of numerous handlers employed to care for Siegfried and Roy’s bevy of big cats both during the show and at the Mirage’s Secret Garden zoo, claims that for several years leading up to the Oct. 3 show, Horn started personally visiting and caring for the show’s tigers less and less.
“I am positive that Roy’s diminishing relationship with Mantacore was a key factor in the attack,” Lawerence toldTHR, adding that he and other handlers thought Horn was treating the animals more like props and less like partners.
On the night of the show Oct. 3 show, the handler says there were several cues that Mantacore was not prepared to perform the trick known as “The Rapport,” where Horn would introduce a tiger to the audience and have the animal stand on its hind legs and put its paws on his shoulders.
During Lawerence’s attempts to divert Mantacore’s attention, the handler says Horn took several steps back from the tiger. Mantacore allegedly saw Horn’s retreat as an opportunity to attack and lunge at Horn.
In theHollywood Reporterstory, Lawrence does not offer any proof that Roy did not in fact suffer a stroke on stage.
Lawrence believes his version of events never became public to protect The Mirage, Horn and Mantacore. Siegfried and Roy’s show was permanently dismantled after the incident, but because the incident wasn’t labelled as an attack, Mantacore was not punished in any way. Additionally, Lawrence says, Horn’s image, that he was a man with an extraordinarily empathic connection to big cats, stays intact under the public version of events.
Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn
Horn himself has continually refused to label the incident as an attack. He even performed a trick, alongside Fischbacher, with a tiger in 2009, five years after the attack, at a charity event in Las Vegas. The press and people who attended the event were told that the tiger employed for the trick was Mantacore, but Lawrence claims that the animal was actually another tiger named Jaipur.
The handler says he felt ready to share his side of the story after years of battling anxiety, night terrors and other mental health issues that bloomed after the 2003 show. Lawrence was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) five years ago.
“It’s been 15 years, but I live it every day and every night,” Lawrence toldTHRof the 2003 show. “It’ll never leave me.”
The Mirage, Roy Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
source: people.com
