"My son is in the hospital, he's doing great, he'll most likely be out tomorrow. He's only got a few injuries but he went well.
Mistakes in the cage are paid
for, like wrong movements. The tiger that attacked him just wanted to play, he plays often with that animal. He was pardoned."
So to ANSA Lino Orfei, father of Ivan, the 31-year-old tamer of the "Amedeo Orfei" circus attacked by a tiger on the evening of 29 December during a performance in Surbo (Lecce).
The moment of the attack was filmed on cell phones by some spectators and the images went viral on the web.
Some wished him well and
many, criticizing the use of animals in the circus, wished Ivan's death
.
Lino Orfei, also a tiger tamer for years, replies to them: "Are these animal rights activists? I don't know. Where were they when", due to the lockdown, "we were stopped for eight months in San Michele Salentino? None of them he bothered to come and feed the animals."
Finally, Lino Orfei underlines the number with the tigers, "at the moment it is suspended because the tamer is missing".
And when Ivan comes out of the hospital, his father assures us, "we'll have a family meeting and decide together what to do".
Circus tamer Amedeo Orfei bitten by a tiger in the Lecce area