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Roy Recovers from Tiger Attack

DW Staff (ktz)March 10, 2004

Five months after being attacked by a white tiger during a Las Vegas magic act, Roy Horn is doing well. In his first interview since the near-death experience, the animal tamer said he was focusing on recovery.

https://p.dw.com/p/4lys
Siegfried and Roy at the height of their show success.Image: AP

Speaking to the German celebrity magazine Bunte, the 59-year old animal trainer of Siegfried & Roy fame said he was just happy to be alive. "I was almost under the ground," he said after surviving a stroke and severe injuries during a tiger attack on stage at the Las Vegas Mirage casino five months ago.

Since then, the partner of Siegfried Fischbacher has been concentrating on recovery. He is still bound to a wheelchair and refuses to be photographed. The German interview was conducted by telephone.

The magician said he trains nine hours a day with the same physical therapist that works with the paraplegic actor Christopher Reeve. His doctor is reportedly pleased with Horn's pace of recovery. But there are no plans for a return to the stage any time soon.

Since the October attack in which a seven-year old white tiger lunged at Horn's neck and dragged him behind the curtain, the German-born animal tamer has not trained with the tigers again. Instead, he is content with being wheeled around the extensive garden estate, where the flamboyant duo lives side by side with their animals.

Fischbacher, who has been performing with Horn for nearly 30 years on the Las Vegas strip, said his partner is just now beginning to return to the "midst of life again."

"When I sit across from Roy at the breakfast table and talk with him, it seems like a miracle," Fischbacher told Bunte. "Everything I used to take for granted, I now see with new eyes today."