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In 1999 "Vanity Fair" magazine ran a story about Siegfried and Roy entitled Married, with Tigers. The couple doesn’t acknowledge being homosexual but according to Linda Rapp in "Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culture", it is “widely perceived that they are.”
You’ve probably seen photographs of Roy holding up baby white tiger cubs. “The first voice they hear is mine,” he said in an interview in 2000 for his book Siegfried and Roy’s Gift for Ages. “The first touch they feel is mine, first human face they see is mine.” Roy Horn is talking about babies and babies that are his. [Ibid.]
“Siegfried and I have spent every waking moment with our animals,” he continues. “We watch and observe. We talk to them, take walks with them. Day by day, we learn about each other. But you must have patience and respect for Mother Nature. Because when an animal gives you its trust, you feel like you have been given most beautiful gift in world.” [Ibid.]
But this trust was not trustworthy. Saturn in Cancer poses question, “Who am I safe with if not my own family?” The betrayal of trust in bond between Roy Horn and Montecore may actually prove to be a greater wound for Roy than physical ones. Montecore came into his life when Saturn was on his Moon seven years earlier.
Immediately after attack, Horn reportedly said, “Don’t harm cat.” Montecore was quarantined, checked for rabies and then released.
Siegfried Fischbacher says tiger was trying to save Roy after he fell on stage. Jonathan Kraft, who runs Keepers of Wild in Arizona, and many other big cat experts disagree. Kraft commented to Adam Goldman of Associated Press, "The cat wasn't trying to protect him. [It] was going for jugular. That was a typical killing bite." He added, “I admire guys, I just think they are sending a wrong message. The message needs to be: These are wild animals.” There are several conflicting stories as to events which led to Roy’s fall and Montecore’s aggression.
Siegfried once mentioned how amazed he was that Roy was allowed to participate in birthing process of white tigers at Secret Garden. “I think this is incredible when you consider an animal like this can kill their own mate over young ones,” he said. “And to think that [the tigress] accepts Roy to be a part of experience is a miracle.”
A miracle? Or an illusion? Siegfried and Roy bill themselves as magicians, masters of deception. The audience thought mauling was part of act but greater illusion may be costly and damaging one Roy had about his “family”.
One week later, controversial bear advocate Timothy Treadwell, who has been featured on Leonardo diCaprio’s website, was killed and eaten by a grizzly bear. As I often remind my students, stars don’t cause these things. They are related on vertical plane as synchronistic events. Perhaps it is time to look once again at our beliefs about creatures with whom we share this earth and our ways of relating to them.
Our hearts go out to Roy and Siegfried. For them this is a personal and family tragedy.
Roy’s Saturn Return will complete December 17 through 28, 2003 and May 14 through 22, 2004.
Nancy R. Fenn has been a professional astrologer in the San Diego area for over 25 years. She's the astrologer who wasn't born yesterday.