Despite our intelligence, humans sometimes aren’t the smartest animals.
Last week, experienced animal trainer Stephan Miller was killed when a 5-year-old bear bit him in the neck during the filming of an advertisement. His cousin, Randy Miller, built his Hollywood career by training wild animals to perform on cue and safely recreate legendary animal attacks for Discovery Channel and National Geographic documentary producers, including the tiger mauling of illusionist Roy Horn during a Siegfried &Roy show in Las Vegas.
The attack is, in fact, reminiscent of the 2003 incident in which a 380-pound white tiger sank its teeth into Horn’s neck and dragged him off stage in front of a horrified audience.
In both cases, the animal trainers are unwilling to admit the truth: Wild animals, no matter how well-trained, remain wild animals. And wild animals are unpredictable, no matter how well trained.
Randy Miller described the 700-pound grizzly, named Rocky, as a “loving, affectionate, friendly, safe bear.” Miller said he is at a loss to explain how a “simple routine” turned tragic.
It doesn’t matter whether it has been raised by humans since birth, there is no such thing as a loving, friendly, safe bear. Or tiger. Or whale. Or elephant.
News reports say Rocky began licking Stephan Miller’s face and then all of a sudden just bit him. Other reports say both men had a good reputation for safety, always taking extra steps. One step requires anyone around a bear to wear pepper spray to keep the bear away. Perhaps the “simple routine” turned tragic because Stephan Miller wasn’t wearing enough pepper spray, since the bear was licking him.
Likely there will be no definitive reason found for the attack, as was the case in Horn’s mauling. (Horn insists the tiger was trying to help him up after knocking him down.) Federal investigators looked at whether the tiger had been deliberately provoked by someone in the audience, if a terrorist sprayed it with a behavior-altering scent, or if it was unhinged by a woman with a beehive hairdo. Really, they looked into all those theories. There’s a 233-page report.
It’s only human for trainers to misinterpret an animal’s trainability as making it friendly and safe. They work with the animals for years, after all. Camaraderie and trust must build. At least in the human mind. The predator mind, meanwhile, can’t shake the thought of sinking teeth into vulnerable necks.
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