Dirk Arthur, the last exotic animal performer in Las Vegas, has died at the age of 63, ending a turbulent love affair between Sin City and tiger shows that began with Siegfried and Roy (pictured). [Image: Shutterstock.com]
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If exotic animal shows seem like a relic of Las Vegas’ past, they certainly are now. Dirk Arthur, the last performer to use exotic animals in a Las Vegas stage show, has died at the age of 63. Las Vegas Journal ReviewNo specific details about his death were revealed.
Dancers, extensive effects and exotic cats
Arthur made his show debut “Dirk Athur’s Wild Magic” in 1997 in “Jubilee” at Bally’s. It featured dancers, large-scale effects and exotic cats, including white tigers, panthers, black panthers, Bengal tigers and even a rare half-ton tiger. The show ran until 2018 in various incarnations.
Las Vegas had a tumultuous relationship with exotic animal shows that peaked in the 1980s with the world-famous Siegfried and Roy. The rise of bestiality and a very public on-stage incident preceded the downfall of this once-thriving sector of the Vegas entertainment industry.
To commemorate Arthur’s passing, Vegas slots news online He compiled a brief history of the once-simmering love affair between Sin City and exotic animals.
Siegfried and Roy
The names Siegfried and Roy are now synonymous with the big cat magic of Las Vegas. Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, born in Germany, met on a cruise ship in 1959 when the former was working as a magician and the latter was working as a valet. They initially developed an obsession with using exotic cats when Roy smuggled a cheetah from the zoo for an act of Siegfried.
After seeing success in Europe, the duo first earned their headline spot in Sin City in the late 1960s with a full-fledged magic show. They followed that up in 1981 by hosting a variety show called “Beyond Belief” at New Frontier, and eventually signed a $57 million deal with Steve Wynn to perform at Mirage. They proceeded to sell out the 1,500-seat arena twice a night for a decade.
The 1980s and 1990s were the height of the Germans’ success, and tales of their luxurious lives are now famous. They lived in a palace they called the Forest Palace, north of the city. This luxurious, Moroccan-themed property features a fresco above Siegfried’s bed – a naked young version of him holding two chained panthers. Roy also created an 80-acre compound in the desert called Little Bavaria to prevent Siegfried from becoming homesick.
Michael Jackson wrote a tune for them called “Mind Is Magic.”
Throughout this period, the duo rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous names of the time. Michael Jackson wrote a tune for them called “Mind Is the Magic”, while Robin Williams, Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Taylor and Barbra Streisand were known to have seen their show. They also had personal meetings with US Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and even Pope John Paul II.
The act was seen by about 400,000 people each year, ultimately generating more than $1 billion in ticket sales.
Beginning of the End
What goes up must come down, and this is undoubtedly the case for Siegfried and Roy. Their downfall began on a routine night on October 3, 2003, while performing the show they had spent 44 years perfecting.
About 45 minutes into their show that evening, the action settled down for a moment called “The Rapport.” It was a part of the show meant to give showgoers and their audiences a chance to catch their breath, but it turned out to be quite the opposite that night.
Roy introduced the audience to Manticore, a seven-year-old, 380-pound white tiger from Mexico. Even though he had performed “The Rapport” more than 2,000 times before, the big cat became distracted by something in the crowd. When Roy tried to take control of the situation, the Manticore lashed out at the performer, eventually sinking its teeth into his neck, severing his vertebrae, and severing an artery in his brain.
He suffered partial paralysis on the left side of his body
Roy was taken to hospital, and although he survived the ordeal, he was never the same again. He was left partially paralyzed on the left side of his body after suffering a stroke and subsequent cardiac arrest. Regardless, he always insisted that the Manticore never attacked him, but was actually trying to save him after realizing he was suffering a stroke on stage.
The investigation into the incident was followed by some strange twists and turns. Theories about why something went wrong that night range from animal activists and homophobes in the crowd to ultrasound machines and a woman near the stage who had a large beehive-shaped hairstyle. There is still no generally accepted theory as to why the attack occurred.
Arthur’s last efforts
The 2003 attack marked the end of Siegfried and Roy’s careers. It also pre-empted a spike in animal activity that made life more difficult for those using the big cats on stage. Even entertainment groups that had been using caged animals for more than a century, such as the Ringling Brothers Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses, ended up no longer using these animals.
However, Dirk Arthur was not deterred. The Las Vegas magician has been performing with the big cats in showrooms since the 1990s, starting with Bally’s. He continued this until 2018 when his show “Dirk Arthur’s Wild Illusions” was last held at the Westgate. Animal rights activists protested the show, and Westgate ended up canceling it altogether.
Arthur had to keep his cats in a private zoo west of the Las Vegas Strip after that, costing him up to $150,000 a year to maintain them. Eventually, times became so tough that he last worked at Westgate as a guide, according to LVRJ. Before his death, Arthur was supposedly in the process of purchasing a theater in Branson, Missouri to reopen the show with his big cats.
Westgate Las Vegas released a statement upon his death. She described Arthur as a “special talent” and said he “will always remain a cherished member of the Westgate family.” Meanwhile, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called for his cats to be sent to shelters, with them “finally freed from stage lights and filthy cages.”
Roy Horn died in May 2020 of coronavirus at the age of 75, while Siegfried Fischbacher died of pancreatic cancer in 2021 at the age of 81.
