This story has moved on: Man dies after entering tiger enclosure at Yorkshire wildlife park

Summarised from 2 outlets · 3 reports · Updated 13 Oct, 02:19 · Archive

A man died after jumping into a Siberian tiger's enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Saturday. Eye witnesses said he climbed over a metre-high viewing barrier and dropped into the enclosure below, overpowering a woman who tried to stop him. The resident 30-stone Siberian tiger, named Altai, was seen pawing at the man before he was dragged away and declared dead at the scene.

The park remained closed days after the incident whilst a City of Doncaster council spokesperson said the local authority had launched a health and safety investigation. This was the second serious incident at a UK zoo in recent months. In June, a three-year-old boy was seriously injured after being attacked by one or more crocodiles at Johnsons of Old Hurst, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

Experts said the recent events do not reflect on zoo safety practices themselves. Amy Dickman, professor of wildlife conservation and director of WildCRU at the University of Oxford, said the incidents may point to wider issues in society, including human behaviour and mental health support. She noted that given millions of zoo visits occur yearly, such incidents are 'vanishingly rare', though deeply tragic when they occur.

How it is being reported

• Witnesses describe moment man was killed by tiger at U.K. wildlife parkAt a wildlife park in Northern England on Saturday, a man jumped over a barrier, into the enclosure of a 5-year-old Siberian tiger, and did not make it back out alive. Mark Strassmann has more.CBS News · 13 Oct, 01:04
• After two tragic incidents in months does safety at English zoos need a rethink?Even though a man was mauled to death by a tiger and a three-year-old was attacked in a crocodile enclosure, experts say public protection is robust On a busy Saturday afternoon at a zoo in Yorkshire, visitors looked on in horror as a man climbed into a tiger habitat, minutes after posing for a photograph beside it. Eye witnesses said he scaled a metre-high viewing barrier, before dropping into the enclosure below, overpowering a woman who tried to pull him back. Continue reading...The Guardian · 12 Oct, 19:31
• Man dies after jumping into tiger's enclosureThe Siberian tiger exhibit at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park is still closed days after a man jumped into its enclosure. CBS News' Tom Hanson has more.CBS News · 12 Oct, 18:42

In this story: Yorkshire Wildlife Park · Siberian tiger · Altai · Johnsons of Old Hurst · Huntingdon · Cambridgeshire · Amy Dickman · University of Oxford

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem