Las Vegas showman Rick Thomas says he’s thrilled to perform in Bermuda with his hand-reared white tiger Kaos.His show starts Friday with a special gala event at the Fairmont Southampton hotel.The Magic of Rick Thomas opens with trained birds, and features dance and illusionist tricks, but it is the use of tiger that has attracted controversy, in Bermuda as elsewhere.The SPCA responded to ads in December with a statement that it was opposed to “the use of animals for any kind of entertainment, exhibition or performance where injury, suffering or distress is likely to be caused”.This week, veterinarian Maureen Ware-Cieters called the event a national shame, saying Bermuda would be “party to the exploitation of a captive white tiger, obliged to perform no less than 12 times in nine days”.Mr Thomas, however, insists his show will educate people especially children about endangered animals.Although no-one is allowed to touch the tiger, he said: “There will be an encounter at the end of the show, that allows people to come up on stage and stand within a few feet of the tiger. They are overwhelming; they take your breath away.”He said he raised Kaos himself five years ago.“From virtually the moment he was born, he has been on the stage with me,” said Mr Thomas, adding that his exhibitor’s permit requires him by law to display tigers.He said he’s kept every tiger he raised, having spent $2 million on a compound at his home; he has also given one tiger to a reserve in Colorado.None have been released into the wild: “They would be dead in a matter of days or months because people would kill them.”He said: “I appreciate the concerns people have about animal welfare, but once you see what I’ve done and my performance record around the world, I think people should praise what I’ve done with tigers.”Mr Thomas added that six percent of tigers in the US are in zoos: “The other 94 percent are being taken care of by people just like me. If it weren’t for us, we wouldn’t have tigers any more. They’d be extinct. They’d be in history books.”Asked about objections to the very idea of animals being used in performance, he said: “Are these from people who have pets? If they keep pets, they shouldn’t have any questions about animals performing. My opinion is animals shouldn’t be in captivity, even dogs and cats, but they are. I’ve taken on the responsibility of tigers, and I think that’s a lot of what people freak out over tigers are different from having a dog or a cat in your backyard.”Adding that it was impossible to please everybody, Mr Thomas said people who still objected to his show should “go and have a nice cup of tea”.Mr Thomas is a prominent entertainer in Las Vegas, Nevada, where a top act involving tigers Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage was cut short in October 2003, after performer Roy Horn was badly bitten.Such incidents have to be put in context, Mr Thomas said: “There are people who are willing to jump out of airplanes. Siegfried and Roy were in the business 30 years. Think how many people are killed by cars every day.”He said: “I was the first to perform with a tiger after that incident. I questioned the cast and crew if we should go ahead that day. I looked out and I saw the place was packed. The public made my decision for me.”The Magic of Rick Thomas will run from February 26 to March 5.It has taken Sandys Rotary Club two years to bring Mr. Thomas to the Island. Chairman of the event, former Sandys Rotary president Edgar Dill, said he had wanted to bring the show to Bermuda ever since watching Mr Thomas’s show in Las Vegas with his wife.Mr Dill said: “I was one of the people who went on stage. At the start of the show I thought, Bermuda needs something like this. By the time we got to the end, I knew Bermuda’s children needed to see it.”According to event manager Sandra Christensen, ticket sales have soared since Mr Thomas’s arrival in Bermuda on Tuesday.The Friday night gala will accommodate around 175, with regular shows in the hotel’s Mid-Ocean Ampitheatre taking about 750 guests 690 for evening performances, she said.“We’re certainly anticipating that weekend and matinee shows will sell well; we’re pushing for the weekday shows, especially for people who want to get a chance to go up on the stage and get closer to the tiger.”Sandys Rotary also released a statement from SPCA director Kim Sherlaw: “Even if you don’t support the Rick Thomas Magic Show and choose not to attend, I would encourage people to give charitably to Sandys Rotary, being appreciative of their worthy fundraising efforts to help local charities in Bermuda and to support PolioPlus,” she said.l Useful web links: www.rickthomasbermuda.com