A man killed by a tiger at a zoo in South Yorkshire has been named locally as William Chapman.
Chapman scaled the fence and entered the enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on Saturday afternoon. Witnesses described seeing Chapman, who has not been officially named by police, walking up to a 200kg male Siberian tiger, named Altai, which attacked him.
The incident lasted only a couple of minutes and Chapman, who is believed to have been in his 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.
Videos in which onlookers urged him not to approach the tiger and to “play dead” during the attack were shared online in the aftermath, as well as a number of AI-generated fakes. Police advised members of the public to avoid sharing them. They said the man’s family was being supported by specialist officers.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park was evacuated on Saturday and remained closed for a fourth day on Tuesday.
Dan Swaine, the executive director of place at Doncaster council, said: “As the relevant licensing authority for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, I can confirm that, in line with our statutory duties, the council has launched a health and safety investigation.
“We are also working with multiple agencies, including the police and health agencies, and are supporting the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in response to the incident. At this time, we won’t be commenting further on the individual or the investigation and we ask that the privacy of those involved is respected at this difficult time.”
The park said staff were receiving specialist support and that Altai, an endangered tiger, would not be euthanised.
Wildlife and zoo experts told the Guardian it was unlikely the wildlife park would have been able to prevent the incident.
Amy Dickman, a professor of wildlife conservation and the director of WildCRU at the University of Oxford, said: “I would not conclude that there was a major issue with zoo safety – the harsh reality is that it is virtually impossible for zoos to stop people who are very determined to breach safety measures.”
Campbell Murn, a lecturer in conservation science at the University of Reading, who until recently sat on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ zoos expert committee, said: “It’s simply not possible … at an attraction like Yorkshire Wildlife Park that gets hundreds of thousands – if not over a million – visitors a year to keep an eye on everybody all the time.”
He added: “If a determined thief wants to get in your house, they’re going to get in your house. You can mitigate risk to a certain point but there’s sometimes no stopping events from happening, unfortunately.”
A spokesperson for the Born Free Foundation, which campaigns to phase out zoos, called for an “urgent review” into “how the man managed to enter the enclosure and what happened next”.
