[size=14pt]Circus dinner performer mauled by three tigers[/size]
By Allan Hall in Berlin
Published: 1:36PM GMT 09 Dec 2009

A performer [/b]at a circus dinner theatre was [b]mauled by three tigers in Hamburg on Tuesday, but the club's owner insisted: "the show will go on".

Diners at Pagel's Dinner Circus, at the Hagenbeck zoo in a Hamburg suburb, paid £125 to watch Christian Walliser, 28, perform with five Bengal tigers.

But as Mr Walliser began the show, he stumbled, losing control of the big cats, three of which turned on him.

"He didn't stand a chance," said one of the 20 among 200 guests who were treated for shock. "They were on him in an instant."

Mr Walliser suffered injuries to his head, upper body, and hands as he tried to shield his face. He remains in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery in hospital.

"They were treating him like a rag doll," said Ismet Mueller, a friend of Mr Walliser's who attended the show. "It was horrible."

Other circus workers jumped into the arena to drive the tigers back into their individual cages.

Medics turned the foyer of the supper club into an emergency therapy station for the shocked guests.

But the directors of the spectacle said; "The show will go on.

"Christian would want it that way. [size=15pt]The tigers were only playing with him but the human body can't take such games[/size]."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6768608/Circus-dinner-performer-mauled-by-three-tigers.html

lord have mercy.

shouldnt organizers have tranquilizer darts on hand at all times?

The tigers were only playing with him?

Very expensive play!