beyond hope wrote:Siegfried and Roy apparently have an agreement that if one of them dies or is seriously injured, the show is over. My girlfriend (who works at the MGM Grand) was telling me that they've told 250 of the cast to find new work.
News stories reported the show is postponed indefinitely (due to Roy being in the hospital), and MGM doesn't want to create false hopes in the crew. I believe they were told to seek new jobs, but that they'll be the top choices if the show does return.
I haven't heard what's supposed to happen to the tiger, but people who know him have been saying he would oppose it being put down.
As Roy was being taken to the hospital, he said not to put down Montecore.
Axis Kast wrote:And all the other animals at the zoo? I seriously question the validity of claims that upwards of 200 animals are all headed for the black market -
This wouldn't surprise me at all. A bear sells for about $3000; half for its gall bladder and the other half for meat and skin. Gibbons are about $200 each. Between 1975 and 1992 over six tonnes of tiger bones were illegally imported into South Korea, which represents somewhere around 750 tigers. Rhinoceros horns sell for about $10,000 a pound. A leopard coat is worth $20,000. The black market in animals is very lucrative. Scotland Yard estimates that worldwide, animal trafficking generates roughly $5 billion USD per year.
When laws were passed to stop illegal trade, over 3,000 seizures were made in 6 months in Italy. 4 British dealers were found to have 127 illegal rhinoceros horns. A single shop in Mayfair had over 130 illegal items. There is definitely a market for exotic animals, and 200 of them would be a rather small number to slip into that market.