"Trying to Play with the Tiger?" He Jumped Into Its Enclosure... British Man Dies

Witnesses: "He tried to play with the tiger"
Emergency responders rushed to the scene, but he was pronounced dead there.

A man who entered a Siberian tiger enclosure at a zoo in the UK was mauled to death by a tiger.

A man died after entering the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in the UK and being attacked by a tiger. Screenshot from Yonhap News and X (formerly Twitter).

Local media, including the UK’s Telegraph, reported that at midday on October 10 local time, a man jumped into a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, England, and one of the tigers approached and attacked him.

Video shared on social media shows the man sitting on the ground and kicking at the approaching tiger to fend it off. However, the tiger bit him on the back and around the nape of his neck from behind, shook him, and knocked him down. While the tiger paused to catch its breath, the man also raised a finger toward it in a gesture that appeared to say, “Don’t.” The video did not show him fleeing in terror.

Emergency services rushed to the scene after receiving a report, but the man was pronounced dead there.

Local police said, “At 1:35 p.m., we received a report that a man had entered the enclosure and was subsequently attacked by a tiger.” The man’s identity and the reason he entered the tiger enclosure have not yet been determined.

The Telegraph reported that some witnesses said the tiger attacked after gunshots were heard, or that the tiger appeared to have been shot. Other witnesses, however, said, “The man seemed agitated even before entering the enclosure,” and “After jumping in, he tried to play with the tiger.”

The zoo’s tiger enclosure is designed so visitors can look down at the tigers from a 300-meter-long elevated walkway. Local media speculated that the man climbed over the wire fence to get into the enclosure. A large black screen was reportedly placed over the tiger area after the incident.

The park said a “serious incident” had occurred at the tiger enclosure and that it had “immediately activated its emergency response procedures.” Visitors were evacuated under the procedures. Police said, “The tiger was not injured, and we are continuing our investigation at the scene.” The park will close on October 11 for the investigation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.