Oct. 8) -- Casino mogul Steve Wynn is one of the people who know
Siegfried and Roy best. He is one of the duos closest of friends
and hired the illusionists when he built The Mirage in 1990. He
even built a special theater just for their show.

Wynn gave an exclusive interview to Eyewitness News Anchor, Gary
Waddell on Wednesday. He says that what happened Friday night
was a fluke, something that never should have occurred. And
something that no one could have foreseen. He continued to say
that Roy --- even as he was being carried off stage by the tiger
-- was saying he didn't want anything to happen to the cat.

Wynn was in Idaho on Friday night when the incident happened on
stage. But he was one of the first people called. He flew home
to visit Roy in the hospital on Saturday morning. And then began
the task of trying to figure out how something like this could
happen.

Wynn said for sure that Montecore did not attack Roy Horn. He
said that reports that Roy was attacked are false. That
Montecore would never attack Roy. That in a way, the tiger was
trying to protect him following a string of unfortunate events
that led to the tiger carrying Roy of stage as if he were a cub.

Steve Wynn speaks of the information he gathered from talking to
people on the scene:

As Roy was leading Montecore out to stage front on a leash, the
cat became fascinated and distracted by woman with a big hairdo
who was sitting ringside. Instead of Montecore going down facing
forward with Roy, he did a 90 degree turn and faces sideways
towards the woman with the big hairdo. For whatever reason,
Montecore is fascinated and distracted.

Montecore got down on all fours and puts his 26-inch head four
inches away from of the woman. She thinks this is adorable and
part of the show and reaches out to try and rub him under his
chin. Roy is talking and sees this move. That's way wrong all
the way around. As usual this heroic fellow that he is, Roy
jumps between the tiger and the woman.

At that point Roy tried to re-gain the tiger's attention by
pulling back on the leash and saying, "No, no, no, no. Come on,
get up". As if to say, "No, I'm not ready to do what you want me
to do yet, " the cat does not respond. Roy continued to command
him.

The tiger then gently reached up a grabbed Roy's right arm in
his jaws between Roy's elbow and wrist in a gentle, playful
warning. Roy did not receive so much as a scratch on his arm or
his costume. That's how gentle Montecore's grip was on Roy. This
behavior is similar to how a housecat or a dog might react -- a
gentle warning -- without hurting the person it loves.

Roy loudly commanded the cat to release its grip by saying, "No,
no, no, no. Release, release," several times. He had to whack
him with the rubber microphone several time to try and get the
tiger to release its grip. This didn't hurt the tiger, but did
make a loud noise.

Roy continued to pull on Montecore's leash not realizing that
the cat had put its big paw behind one of his legs. Roy falls
backwards on stage over the paw of Montecore lying flat on his
back. Four stagehands rush out and jump on the cat. Montecore
gets confused; he's supposed to be with Roy walking off stage.

Roy is lying down in front of him with his feet towards the
audience, his head towards the curtain. Montecore gets up and as
cool as a cucumber, leans over and picks up Roy like a cub on
the right side of his neck. Not a bite, not an attack. He picks
him up.

There was no damage to Roy's neck, but there were two puncture
wounds and one of those teeth went through Roy's vertical
artery. Severed it, the one behind his neck that's what caused
the stroke and massive bleeding putting him in a near death
situation.

Montecore picked up Roy with all the excitement and walks with
perfect blocking according to the act. Does his exit at the
right speed, right off stage left and goes into his cage, which
is where he goes to get transported home.

He goes into the cage and tries to bring Roy in with him.
Stagehands backstage used a technique that made Montecore
release Roy. They closed the door on Montecore and Roy lay on
the floor bleeding. He was then rushed to UMC.

Wynn underscores that Montecore was acting to protect Roy. He
explained that during an actual lethal attack, a predator's
instinct is to violently grab its prey by the neck, vigorously
shakes its head snapping the neck of its prey. This is not what
happened.

While Gary Waddell was with Steve Wynn today, he got a call from
Bernie Yuman, Siegfried and Roy's manager. Yuman said that they
had just brought Roy's dog to visit him in the hospital and that
Roy had responded by petting the dog.

That's good news. And probably pretty good therapy for a man
whose life's work has been loving and caring for animals. Wynn
also says he's been told that they are starting to ween Roy off
the life support systems in order to let his body function on
its own. If that's successful, that will be a very big step in
Roy's recovery.