Unfair to animals

Is there not a lesson to be learned from the incident in which the illusionist Roy Horn, of the Siegfried and Roy duo, was attacked by a tiger during a performance (your report, 6 October)?

Siegfried and Roy, the second biggest earning act in Las Vegas, have made a lot of money by forcing wild animals to perform tricks in a casino. They pride themselves on having a mena-gerie of more than 60 tigers, lions, panthers and elephants.

These poor creatures are mere caricatures of their magnificent wild counterparts. They are forced to live an unnatural existence in captivity but retain their natural instincts. It is little wonder that their behaviour can be unpredictable.

Exploiting wild animals for human entertainment is in-creasingly viewed by the public as unacceptable. As long as people continue to pay to see animal acts such as these, animals will continue to suffer.

ROSS MINETT

Campaigns director

Advocates for Animals

Queensferry Street

Edinburgh

The tragic reports of a tiger turning on Roy Horn during an act in Las Vegas, while horrific and regrettable, sadly come as no great surprise.

To parade a tiger on stage for people’s entertainment is totally unnatural and demeaning for the animal involved and creates a situation that has the potential for disaster if its instinct comes to the fore. Animals belong in the wild, not under the spotlight in an entertainment venue.

(MAJ-GEN) PETER DAVIES

Director general, World Society for the Protection of Animals

Albert Embankment

London