Tiger Trainer Horn: I'm Better Now

Illusionist Roy Horn of "Siegfried & Roy," who was mauled on stage by a tiger in October, says he's on the mend and is working hard with a physical therapist, a German magazine reported Wednesday.

"You know, I almost had two feet in the grave, but now I'm doing better," the weekly Bunte quoted Horn as saying in a telephone interview from his Las Vegas home.

"I have hired the same trainer as Christopher Reeve and am working with him for nine hours a day," Horn added. Reeve, who played Clark Kent and his superhero alter ego in four "Superman" movies, was paralyzed from the neck down in a 1995 horseback-riding accident.

Horn, 59, asked Bunte to "spread the good news that you have spoken to me and that I'm doing well," the magazine said, adding that his voice was weaker than usual but his mind was clear.

Roy's stage partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, has downplayed his partner's injuries from the attack. He said a stroke Horn suffered afterward resulted from blood pressure medication that sometimes made him feel faint.

Last week, a German-based spokeswoman for the duo, Claudia Dressler, said Horn was able to walk with the help of a wheeled walking aid.

Officials at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas say Horn has a long recovery ahead of him, and the duo's long-running show has been closed.