A 24-year-old man was killed by a tiger after entering an enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, on 10 October. William Chapman, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and experienced bouts of psychosis, climbed over two fences and entered the habitat of a 200-kilogram male Siberian tiger named Altai. The incident led to Chapman sustaining multiple traumatic injuries, which resulted in his death at the scene despite attempts by park staff and paramedics to intervene.
At the opening of an inquest at Doncaster coroner’s court, it was revealed that Chapman was described as highly functioning and independent, with no formal care requirements. He lived in Doncaster and worked as a self-employed online trader. Despite being under the care of local mental health services provided by the Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, his family raised several concerns about his interactions with mental health workers in the period leading up to the incident. The trust has since initiated an independent investigation into Chapman's care.
Chapman's family issued a statement paying tribute to him as a bright and warm individual who was deeply loved. They acknowledged his long-term struggles with significant mental illness and the strong medication prescribed to him, but emphasized that it would be for the coroner to determine what role, if any, these factors played in his death. The family also expressed distress over the widespread sharing of footage of the attack on social media, describing it as deeply offensive and upsetting. Following their statement, former US President Donald Trump shared a video of the incident on his Truth Social platform, along with an AI-generated video featuring himself play-fighting with a tiger, which the family criticized as inappropriate.
The City of Doncaster council, which licenses the zoo, is conducting a health and safety investigation and will provide its findings to the coroner. The zoo itself, which had been closed since the event, announced it would reopen, including the tiger enclosure, urging visitors to be respectful of staff who have faced a difficult period.
The senior coroner, Nicola Mundy, confirmed that the full circumstances surrounding Chapman's death would be examined more closely at a resumed inquest scheduled for 18 March 2027. Meanwhile, park authorities confirmed that Altai, an endangered species, would not be euthanized following the incident. Officials and experts have suggested that the attack was likely unforeseeable and that the zoo had appropriate safety measures in place to prevent public access to dangerous enclosures.