Montecore, the Roy Horn-mauling white tiger, will remain in his home at the Mirage Hotel, and will not be disciplined for his attack on his trainer. Details at Yahoo.
As for Roy. I am sooooooo sick of people saying he got what he deserved, etc, etc. The man LOVES his animals. Not just because they made him millions, but because he TRULY has affection, respect and admiration for them.
Yes, there are people who own these animals that don't care and who have no expertise in their care or handling. Roy is not one of them.
Yes, in a perfect world ALL these animals would still be living wild and free, but as we all well know....a perfect world does not exist.
Kudos to folks like S&R who DO treat their animals well.
If these animals were "living wild and free", they wouldn't be. They'd be dead, from hunting/poaching and from man's acquisition of their hunting grounds. There are very places that tigers can even live at all, and the smaller big-cats (and the wild small-cats like the Ocelot) are in even more trouble from our encroachment.
The perfect world once existed, 2.5 million years ago...then Homo Ergaster left Africa...and 10,000 years ago the Ice Ages stopped. Everything's different now.
There's "controversy" right now over an effort to recondition tigers to the wild by teaching them to hunt all over again and depositing them on a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa (the controversy being that its an artificial sanctuary, with most of the species including the tigers transplanted). Personally, *anything* that keeps them alive is better than letting them die, or leaving them to be hunted. The caretakers of this effort are well aware that its an experiment, that can hopefully lead to new efforts to do the same in protected lands in Asia, provided they can get the governments of those lands to support the idea and protect it with more guards. The south africa land was easy to get because bad farming practices during the 1920s-1970s ruined it utterly. in fact, they figure its going to be 3-7 more years before the next phase of natural animals, the hyena and vulture scavengers, arrive to complete the circle.
Actually, I do think he got what he deserved... a cat that seriously cares about him, and was concerned when he got hurt. The two of them put a *lot* of care and attention into all of their animals... *personally* (though I believe they also have help, considering the number involved).
The fact that he was injured accidentally by that same cat in the process of it's 'helping' him was a shame, but...
And on top of that... another "deserved" is that people there at the time, as well as any officials who could have a say in the future of the tiger, have recognized the intent of the animal... in part because of the comments/pleas of Siegfried and Roy, and in part because they were *able* to recognize the truth in what they were told. There are people who are supposed to take animals' care to heart out there who *wouldn't* have listened to the reasoning behind the injury.
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timeasmymeasure
EXCELLENT!!
Date: 2003-10-14 09:00 am (UTC)As for Roy. I am sooooooo sick of people saying he got what he deserved, etc, etc. The man LOVES his animals. Not just because they made him millions, but because he TRULY has affection, respect and admiration for them.
Yes, there are people who own these animals that don't care and who have no expertise in their care or handling. Roy is not one of them.
Yes, in a perfect world ALL these animals would still be living wild and free, but as we all well know....a perfect world does not exist.
Kudos to folks like S&R who DO treat their animals well.
Re: EXCELLENT!!
Date: 2003-10-14 10:27 am (UTC)The perfect world once existed, 2.5 million years ago...then Homo Ergaster left Africa...and 10,000 years ago the Ice Ages stopped. Everything's different now.
There's "controversy" right now over an effort to recondition tigers to the wild by teaching them to hunt all over again and depositing them on a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa (the controversy being that its an artificial sanctuary, with most of the species including the tigers transplanted). Personally, *anything* that keeps them alive is better than letting them die, or leaving them to be hunted. The caretakers of this effort are well aware that its an experiment, that can hopefully lead to new efforts to do the same in protected lands in Asia, provided they can get the governments of those lands to support the idea and protect it with more guards. The south africa land was easy to get because bad farming practices during the 1920s-1970s ruined it utterly. in fact, they figure its going to be 3-7 more years before the next phase of natural animals, the hyena and vulture scavengers, arrive to complete the circle.
no subject
Date: 2003-10-14 08:25 pm (UTC)The fact that he was injured accidentally by that same cat in the process of it's 'helping' him was a shame, but...
And on top of that... another "deserved" is that people there at the time, as well as any officials who could have a say in the future of the tiger, have recognized the intent of the animal... in part because of the comments/pleas of Siegfried and Roy, and in part because they were *able* to recognize the truth in what they were told. There are people who are supposed to take animals' care to heart out there who *wouldn't* have listened to the reasoning behind the injury.