Left Field Wander: Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden

Wanna see big cats up close and personal? Then the place to go is Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden at the Mirage Resort (y’know, the one with the spectacular fake volcano in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip).

Master illusionists Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn (born “Uwe Ludwig Horn”) performed for years at the Mirage, bringing on stage with them their pet white lions and white tigers. I’ve seen their show a couple of times and it was pretty spectacular.

Unfortunately, during a show in 2003, Roy Horn was bitten on the neck by Montecore, a 7-year-old white tiger, causing copious blood loss and critical injuries. Six years later, Siegfried & Roy, along with Montecore, appeared on stage to benefit the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute.

To get to the Secret Garden, one has to go through the Dolphin Habitat, which I talked about yesterday. There is a separate entrance where you go through a photo booth and have your picture taken; when you leave, they insert your image on a number of backgrounds and you can purchase prints if you are co inclined.

The Secret Garden is home several big cats – lions, tigers and leopards. Unfortunately, they are behind fences, which get in the way of taking spectacular pictures. Too often, the camera focuses on the metal fence instead of the beautiful animals. Oh well, that’s what I get for not having the right equipment.