‘Wild Things’: Siegfried & Roy Series Will Feature CGI Tigers!
If you’ve heard of Siegfried & Roy, it might be because, for years, PETA raised alarms about the infamous animal-exploiting duo. The Vegas performers built a career parading tigers onstage and forcing them to perform meaningless tricks and routines in their act. In 2003, Roy Horn was nearly mauled to death by one of the very animals he exploited. Now, their story will be told in a new Apple TV+ series, Wild Things. As The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively reported, every big cat you see on screen is brought to life with CGI.
Wild Things Earns Its Stripes in Kind Filmmaking
This victory follows PETA’s public letter in 2022 urging the producers of the series to use fully CGI tigers, noting that Hollywood trainers use violent and abusive “training” methods behind the scenes. In one instance, a PETA eyewitness caught a tiger supplier for Life of Pi and The Interview viciously whipping a young tiger.
Animals like tigers who are used in film and TV commonly suffer extreme psychological distress due to humans separating them from their mothers unnaturally early. In nature, tiger cubs spend up to two years by their mother’s side, learning how to hunt, play, communicate, and survive—yet Hollywood handlers may separate them just days or weeks after birth.
By using movie magic rather than live tigers, Wild Things spares animals from cruelty while raising the bar for compassionate storytelling.
The Real Siegfried & Roy Story
If Wild Things gets it right, it will show Siegfried & Roy’s more-than-decade-long Vegas spectacle—including the stress, confinement, and suffering of the tigers they used. For years, the performers forced tigers to do confusing and meaningless tricks and used them in disorienting ‘disappearing acts’ for the audience’s amusement.
These acts weren’t just cruel, they were highly dangerous for the animals, the performers, and the public. In 2003, that danger became a near-death experience for Roy when a clearly agitated tiger named Montecore attacked him during a performance, lunging at his neck and dragging him offstage “like a rag doll.” Horn’s coworkers beat Montecore, and the tiger didn’t release him until they blasted him with a fire extinguisher. The incident left Roy with debilitating injuries—and it could have been even worse if Montecore had jumped offstage toward the audience.
The gruesome incident shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. Handlers who use animals in live acts often use whips, food deprivation, and other painful methods to make them submit. When they aren’t forcing the animals to perform, handlers often keep them locked in cages, depriving them of stimulation and meaningful social relationships. These conditions couldn’t be further from the lives big cats live in nature, where they have endless space and the freedom to climb, swim, run, play, and hunt as they please. The constant stress of confinement and torment can cause these animals to lash out or act aggressively in self-defense.
Entertainment Is Evolving, Thanks in Part to PETA’s Work
Hollywood has shown that state-of-the-art special effects are leading the way in immersive, visually stunning storytelling. Today, CGI brings big cats and other animals to life in many productions—from Mufasa, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Joe vs. Carole. to Superman, Happy Gilmore 2, and Anaconda.
And just like Hollywood, Las Vegas is getting kinder to animals. After months of behind-the-scenes talks with PETA, in 2023 The Mirage moved the big cats from Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden—where the owners confined them and put them on display for gawking crowds—to reputable sanctuaries. In 2011, following a major push from PETA, MGM Grand shut down its cruel and dangerous lion exhibit, where stressed lions were trapped in a glass enclosure and at least two attacks on handlers occurred. After hearing from PETA and more than 51,000 of our supporters, illusionist Jay Owenhouse scrapped his plan to confine three tigers in a parking-lot circus tent near the Strip for a year-long magic show.
Speak Up for Big Cats!
Siegfried & Roy’s legacy is a reminder that our fellow animals are not props; they are living, feeling individuals. YOU can help big cats everywhere, from seedy roadside zoos to circuses, by taking action below:
