This article reveals two interesting new facts. For one, it backs up quite realistically Siegfried's claim that the tiger was only trying to protect Roy. Until now I hadn't been so sure whether this was true or just a claim to cover their own ass. It'll be much easier to bring back the show with the tigers in distant future when it has been established that the tigers aren't dangerous but instead rather "helpful". So, that's what I suspected. But the way it's described here it does make sense, IMO.
Apparently the tiger had been distracted by someone or something in the audience and Roy stepped in to take the cat's attention off it. In the process the tiger grabbed him in surprise which resulted in Roy accidentally rapping the tiger on the nose. It created a loud noise which startled the cat. Now this is very it becomes a truly unfortunate accident. Roy tripped and fell, adding to the cats confusion, which prompted Montecore to grab Roy at the neck as he would do with a fellow cat and dragged him off stage, into safety. This is backed up IMO by the fact that Montecore then proceeded to continue his program as planned, walking to his cage for the next part of the performance. I'm convinced that none of this was a vicious attack.
People keep saying that you can't change a wild beast and that the natural instincts take over eventually. But I think that's not true. Whenever something like that happens it's because the beast (I hate that word, it sounds so mean) doesn't know its strength. It thinks it can act with their human mate as it would with another animal mate. But that doesn't work of course, since we don't have the same thick fur and skin. I don't deny that it can happen that a wild animal can get pissed, too. Every pet owner has seen their pets get pissed off at them before. That's when the "not knowing their own strength" part comes in again. The cat thinks it's okay to just whack the other one and say "Don't do that, okay?!?", not considering that such a whack seriously injures a human.
So, I think all this "Every wild animal eventually will get violent and harm their owners" crap is just a bunch of bullshit. I mean, Montecore was brought up by Roy. He was born in Roy's arms and he was bottle-fed, cared for and loved for the past seven years. I doubt that the so called natural instinct makes all this love and feeling of family go poof and make Roy look like a tasty snack. Okay, I realize that tigers, just like all felines, change in their family structures as they mature, but we also know that most felines stay within their families and recognize them. Most problems occur with other males and that won't work since a human doesn't have the same smells and everything. So, don't give me that.
Eh, I'm digressing. Anyway, this is the first interesting bit, presented here in great detail ^_^;. The other interesting bit was that apparently a tape of the accident DOES exist! Such a tape never had been mentioned before. This is very interesting indeed. That should clear up with everything eventually.
One thing that worries me in this article is that the give Roy a 95-98% chance of
surviving. I mean, this is excellent of course. It means he won't die, most likely. But... somehow I had never considered he could die. He just... mustn't die, so he won't, you know? And now it seems like he won't, so this is yay. But it doesn't say anything about making a full recovery. That's what worries me. I'd hate to see him brain damaged or physically handicapped now... I mean, most important thing is that he lives. But he shouldn't lose too much of what he used to know. Oh wait, I forgot. Wynn also said that tests showed that Roy didn't sustain any permanent brain injuries. I just hope that's true...
Anyway, here's the article.
Roy 'improving every day' after tiger attackFri 10 October, 2003 22:41 BST ( Article )![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
