DONCASTER, England — A man died on Saturday after entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire Police said.
“At 1.35pm today (Saturday October 10) we received reports of a man entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park,” the force said. “The tiger subsequently attacked the man, resulting in serious injury. Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene,” Metro reported. Yorkshire Ambulance Service sent two ambulances, an air ambulance and a doctor, CBS News reported.
Addressing online speculation about the animal, police said the tiger was uninjured, remained in the enclosure and posed no wider risk to the public. The park was evacuated and is closed on Sunday as well. “We are working closely with the authorities to ascertain exactly what happened,” the park said in a statement, Al Jazeera reported. The Express reported that the man was seen climbing down into the enclosure.
The Tiger and the Park
The park confirmed that the Amur tiger, called Altai, remained in the enclosure and would not be euthanised. “We can reassure everyone he is safe and well,” it said, the Yorkshire Post reported. The incident remains under investigation.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park opened in 2009, and its Land of the Tigers area followed in 2011. The purpose-built two-acre reserve is home to Amur tigers, an endangered subspecies with around 500 left in the wild, the BBC reported. The park’s website describes a 300-metre raised walkway above the enclosure.
Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary and MP for Doncaster North, said he was “deeply saddened” to hear of the incident and sent his “thoughts and deepest condolences to the family of the individual who died,” the BBC said.
What Is Still Unclear
The man has not been named in the police and park statements we reviewed. A visitor told the BBC she heard what sounded like gunshots as emergency services arrived. We have not been able to confirm what she heard.
