Should Magicians Still be Using Animals for Magic?

In December 1996, magician Roy Horn flew from Las Vegas to Guadalajara to visit Mexico’s largest zoo. His team made lengthy negotiations so he could purchase tiger cubs for his show in Vegas.

While Horn was there, a snow-white tiger went into labor. The first two cubs arrived without issue, but the third was struggling. Horn wasted no time: he immediately rushed to assist the mother tiger. When the cub stopped breathing, he even performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until it revived.

He named the newborn Mantecore.

Seven years later, Roy Horn was on stage performing for a crowd of 1,500 people at The Mirage Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. He had performed over thirty thousand shows for fifty million people as part of the world-famous duo Siegfried & Roy. But that night felt special—it was Horn’s 59th birthday.

The crowd was buzzing.

What happened next was a tragedy. At one point in the show, a tiger attacked Horn and dragged him backstage by the neck. Blood was everywhere. Animal trainers rushed in and managed to free Horn, who then underwent extensive surgery. The injuries left him partially paralyzed and ended the duo’s performing career.

No third party can confirm if the story of Mantecore’s birth is true—only Horn recounted it. But what the tiger did to Horn on stage in 2003 is something the entire world knows took place.

That tiger was Mantecore, named after a legendary creature from Persian mythology whose name, in ancient Persian, means “man-eater.”

The Question

Should magicians still be using animals in their shows? When One Ahead reached out to me with the question, I was intrigued. As a magician who creates and performs card tricks, I’ve never entertained the idea of using a breathing thing in my tricks (except for breather crimps—those I do). That was a terrible joke; I’m sorry.

Anyway. Besides being a magician, I’m also a professional journalist. The goal of this article is to use the tools of journalism to explore the subject of animals in magic to then reflect on it as a magician. We’ll delve into the recent history of using animals in magic, notable examples, and tackle the big question of what the future holds.

Let me tell you—you don’t need to know how to produce doves or train tigers to read this. In fact, it’s even better if you have no prior knowledge. Approaching this topic with few preconceived notions can be refreshing, and I’m glad I had the chance to explore it firsthand.

A Goose For Khufu

Ancient Egypt must have been an extraordinary time to live in. Long before rabbits and doves became staples of magic, the very first documented magic trick involving an animal comes from Egypt. In fact, it’s the earliest recorded magic trick of any kind. The magician’s name was Djedi, and his story is told in the Westcar Papyrus, dated to 1650 BC.

Although likely fictional, Djedi’s story is presented as true. He was invited to the court of Emperor Khufu for his renowned abilities. At the time, Djedi claimed to be 110 years old.

Djedi performed a few tricks for the emperor. The first routine involved a goose, whose head was cut off and then magically reattached, bringing the goose back to life. Djedi performed the same routine with a bird and a bull, and then moved on to mentalism feats and predictions of the future.

Khufu was so impressed that he housed Djedi near his court. Djedi was granted a daily supply of “1,000 loaves of bread, 100 jars of beer, one ox, and 100 bundles of field garlic.” We’re long before the days of Las Vegas contracts, but you get the idea.

Since then, magic has evolved into what it is today through centuries of different practices and forms. However, the foundation of the iconography and common knowledge of using animals in magic dates back to the 19th century and the use of rabbits.

Rabbits From The Hat

It's difficult to pinpoint who did it first, but the earliest documented instance of "pulling a rabbit out of a hat" occurred in 1814, performed by the French magician Louis Comte. Just a few years later, it became a hit, thanks to magicians like John Henry Anderson.

Anderson, known as The Great Wizard of the North, was pulling rabbits from hats by the late 1830s. A brilliant self-promoter, he often printed his own posters on the go and produced the first image of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat.

The routine quickly gained popularity. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, many top magicians, including Harry Houdini and Howard Thurston, were performing their versions. Pulling a rabbit from a hat became synonymous with magic.

Why rabbits? They were accessible, quiet, and could fit into small spaces. Their bodies stretch when pulled from the hat, making them appear larger than they are. Plus, their white fur contrasted nicely with a magician’s black suit. And, of course, they're very cute. But that’s not the point. The key to understanding this magic phase lies in the hat, not the rabbit.

Magicians used to pull all sorts of items from hats: flowers, vegetables, silks, even female assistants and animals. (Let me say it again: female assistants and animals. We need more articles on magic ethics.) Top hats were common, and magicians borrowed them from the audience to use in their routines.

From the 1940s onward, hats became less popular, and magicians shifted to other tricks. People also began questioning the ethics of using rabbits, particularly pulling them by the ears, which is known to be painful for the animal.

Nevertheless, the image of the rabbit from the hat has endured. The funny thing is, nearly no one who recalls it today has seen the trick performed live, yet it remains ingrained in the public's perception of what a magician is.

Some performers still use rabbits today, especially in children's shows, though they typically use different tricks rather than pulling them from a hat. There are all sorts of props like boxes, buckets, and even "rabbit wringers" (worst decision you can make is to google those words). However, this type of magic is far from mainstream.

One thing we may never know is what played a bigger role in the decline of the rabbit trick: evolving ethics or the disappearance of hats?

The Age Of The Dove

As rabbits hopped out of magicians’ shows, a new trend emerged: dove magic.

Let me be clear—magicians have been performing tricks with birds like canaries and pigeons for centuries. These routines relied heavily on props, and much like hat productions, birds were just one of many items magicians would fit into an act. But this changed, beginning with a barber from Mexico.

Abraham J. Cantu was born in 1896. After working as a barber, he got into magic and eventually moved to the United States, where he became a well-known performer. Cantu is commonly considered the first performer to make a dove appear, and his work paved the way for top magicians like Channing Pollock.

Pollock, described by David Copperfield as “the James Bond of magic,” embodied the suave, calm magician. He invented many techniques used in dove magic and became the gold standard for how a stage manipulator and dove magician should look. Jamy Ian Swiss writes that “virtually every dove act features at least two of Pollock’s signature creations”.

Other performers took different approaches. Johnny Thompson, for example, was one of the most influential figures in dove magic, but with a more comedic character than Pollock’s suave persona.

Let’s pause here for a moment. We’re diving deep into history, and it’s clear I’ve watched more dove acts recently than I care to admit—but we’re doing this for a reason. We’re on a quest to find out whether magicians should still be performing this type of magic, so let’s stay focused on that.

While it’s relatively easy to draw conclusions about rabbit magic—since pulling rabbits from hats is now primarily considered unacceptable and is rarely performed—it’s harder to apply that same retrospective thinking to dove magic. Doves are still very much a part of the magic world. Dove magic is performed in shows, at competitions, and even sold by magic companies.

The final part of this article will address the big question we’re building toward, but it’s worth noting now that prominent dove magicians have repeatedly addressed the ethical concerns of using animals.

Every dove magician I spoke to or watched in interviews is well aware of this. Lance Burton claimed the two key words must be “respect” and “care.” Like many others, he also had understudies for his birds.

Both Burton and Thompson stressed the importance of incorporating animals’ natural tendencies into tricks (quoting the former, “You have to build the illusion around the animal”).

This doesn’t mean that every dove magician shows the same level of care, but it’s reassuring to see that the top names in the field have regularly addressed these concerns and have done their best to promote responsible practices to the public.

There Is More

Animal magic isn't limited to just fluffy or feathered creatures. The list is far longer than you might imagine. I've watched videos of magic with horses, zebras (Doug Henning once transformed a black and a white horse into a zebra—genius), guinea pigs, dogs, cats, fish, frogs, tigers, peacocks, mice, butterflies, and more.

Among this zoo of wonders, two categories caught my attention. I think they’re crucial when exploring the use of animals in magic shows.

The first category, I'll call “just sit there”. This includes animals that can’t be really rained; they're in the show because their presence alone sets the mood on stage. Snakes, scorpions, spiders—generally, they are required to do nothing but exist and add an edge to the magic. They look dangerous and supposedly enhance the magical effect (but do they really?).

The second category is my favorite: elephants. Every major magician has made an elephant appear or disappear: Houdini, Henning, Siegfried and Roy, Copperfield, Paul Daniels, Penn and Teller, among others.

This category is fascinating. Consider the effort involved in creating the illusion, acquiring the elephant, keeping it backstage, and using it for a brief routine—there’s not much else you can do aside from making it appear and disappear. It truly is a spectacle in its own right.

And there’s no other animal you could do this with. Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth; that's why magicians have historically used them. And here’s the most important point so far: aside from the ethics and the logistical effort of using such a giant animal on stage, the ultimate decision is about why you choose to use it and why you think your audience will like it. Keep this concept in mind; we’ll revisit it later.

The Siegfried And Roy Disaster

Siegfried and Roy deserve a paragraph of their own. To truly understand the use of animals in magic, we need to examine these icons. They were the most successful magic act of their generation in Las Vegas and revolutionized what a magic show could be. Most notably, they were renowned for their lions and tigers.

Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn were born in Germany in 1939 and 1944. They met on a cruise ship—Siegfried was performing as a magician, and Roy convinced him to swap the rabbits for a cheetah. Horn, an animal enthusiast, had access to a cheetah through a family friend. He smuggled it onboard, and after making it appear in a show, they were fired—only to become the world’s most successful magic act.

Their show at The Mirage lasted from 1990 to 2003. It was majestic; every routine was as grand as possible. And then, there were the tigers. In Wild Things: Siegfried and Roy, Las Vegas performer Rick Thomas claims, “People went to see Siegfried and Roy because they were not only illusionists, but they had the ability to tame the wild beast. Or at least they appeared to be able to do so”.

The duo lived with the tigers at the so-called Jungle Palace. Horn slept with them since their birth and had a strong, almost indefinable bond with them. But in 2003, everything changed. Mantecore attacked Horn, halting their careers. The reasons behind the tiger's attack remain unclear. Horn maintained until his death that Mantecore was trying to save him from a heart attack. Their trainer claimed it was Horn’s mishandling of the animal. We may never know the truth.

The disaster shocked the world of entertainment and sparked a heated debate on the use of animals in magic shows. Critics pointed out that their show did not adhere to norms regarding the use of exotic animals, such as the use of barriers and fences between the stage and the audience.

It was reported that the USDA had already received notes about the lack of security measures at their show. The measures that circuses were required to adhere to apparently were not in place at the Siegfried and Roy show. The reasons for this oversight are unclear.

The Big Question

Animals are still used in magic. Dove magic, as mentioned, is still a thing. Performers like Dan Sperry have made it more contemporary and unique, evolving the magician’s presence on stage.

Animal magic has also made its way to TV shows. Dynamo performed tricks with fish and butterflies in his specials. David Blaine brought a bird and a fly back to life, made a crocodile appear for Katy Perry, reproduced Djedi’s old goose trick, and even swam with a crocodile in his show. And believe it or not, Blaine’s frequent regurgitation of frogs makes him more of an animal magician than many realize (I surprised myself with this thought).

Meanwhile, we’re seeing a rise in the use of fake animals (known as "spring animals"). David Williamson has used his Rocky Raccoon for years, and audiences love it. He was recently part of a production called Circus 1903, featuring fake elephants designed by the War Horse team. These animals may be fake, but they’re designed to look and feel real, and audiences respond positively to them. Fake doves have been around for a while, too. Tommy Wonder performed his birdcage routine with a fake animal. Leading circuses and Broadway productions use elaborate animal-like props that feel real but aren’t. 

Most circuses have removed live animals, and Cirque du Soleil has never used any. Circuses faced public backlash for their use of animals and had to find alternatives, yet remain relevant today.

Laws and regulations are another factor. Some countries ban animals in shows, while others enforce strict conditions, making it expensive and challenging for traveling performers. As entertainment shifts away from live animals and laws make it harder to use them, should magicians still use animals in their shows?

It Goes Deeper

Ultimately, I don’t think the answer is just about ethics.

Don’t get me wrong: ethics is crucial. If you’re using live animals, respecting laws, regulations, and industry standards is non-negotiable. If you can’t, you should consider another profession.

But I’m not an ornithologist, and this isn’t an article about how to store your doves. We’re discussing the broader question: why should we use animals in magic?

Magic is not as relevant as circus or Broadway musical productions, and animal magicians are a niche within the broader world of magic. This is why I doubt there will ever be widespread backlash from the general public against animal magic.

Of course, laws will impose restrictions and guidelines, but I think there will always be exceptions. Siegfried and Roy had no barriers between the stage and the audience at a time when circuses were required to.

Still, I don’t think ethics will be the primary factor guiding magicians’ choices. It will influence some, but it won’t define the future of the art. Rarely has ethics alone driven such turning points. Take exposure, for instance—the most discussed ethical issue in magic since forever. Most magicians agree that exposure for exposure's sake is unethical, and yet there are factors beyond the ethics that drive magicians to keep doing it, leading us to debate it still most days.

Instead of asking, “Can magicians use animals?” ask, “Why do magicians use animals?” This goes deeper. Looking at the past, I think two elements have played the most significant role in these choices.

The first element is about what we believe the audience will enjoy. If you know the audience loves animal magic, you’re more likely to consider and perhaps perform it. This is why animal magic still resonates with kids, but it’s also why big names in magic have used elephants. When a 10,000-pound giant standing nearly ten feet tall vanishes from the stage, jaws drop, no matter the age.

The second element is the availability of the animals and the props surrounding them. This is why rabbit magic was so popular when both rabbits and hats were readily available. It’s also why magic with seemingly inaccessible animals, like spiders and tigers, works so well. When something is accessible, it creates an opportunity; when it’s inaccessible, it presents a challenge. Magicians love both.

I don’t think magicians will stop using animals anytime soon. But if they wish to use them, they can’t ignore the spirit of the time, which has changed across many entertainment industries. They need to involve the audience in the conversation and explain why animals have been used in magic and the kind of beautiful magic they can create. You can see one modern take on this in Penn & Teller's rabbit-from-hat trick.

Then, magicians must be ready to listen—to their audiences and to the changing times. Magicians need to make choices. When audiences say they don’t want to see animals anymore, what will magicians do? And what if that time is now?