A zookeeper has reassured the public that keepers working at Yorkshire Wildlife Park are at no extra risk after a man was fatally mauled by a tiger after entering the enclosure.
Emergency services were contacted shortly after 1.30pm on October 9 when a man entered the enclosure and was set upon by the tiger. Recordings have circulated online prior to the victim being attacked, with one where he can be heard asking bystanders to photograph him. In the clip, the man approaches a couple and asks, "Can you grab a shot of me with the tiger?".
Police statement on fatal attack
A police spokesperson said on Saturday: "At 1.35pm, we received reports of a man entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. 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. The man’s family is aware and is being supported by specialist officers. Our thoughts are with them at this distressing time.
"Regarding rumours surrounding the condition of the tiger, the animal was uninjured and remained in the enclosure following the incident and there is no wider risk to the public."
Park remains closed after incident
It was initially understood the wildlife park would reopen on Monday after it was evacuated following the incident and remained closed on Sunday. But in a message sent to ticketholders on Monday morning, the park said: "Due to the serious incident that occurred at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Saturday, the 10th of October, unfortunately the park remains closed for the whole of Monday, the 12th October.
"Anyone with a booking for this date will be contacted within the next five working days with details of how to reschedule your booking. We apologise for the late notice any inconvenience caused."
In a previous statement on social media on Sunday, the wildlife park said "many, many people" had contacted them about Altai, the Amur tiger involved in the incident, and it confirmed he is "safe and well" and will not be euthanised.
Zookeepers speak out
Since the incident, there have been growing concerns online that zookeepers will be put at risk by that same tiger after it fatally mauled the victim. As one user on X questioned: "I feel sorry for his family. The tiger it seems hasn't been shot but after a human kill, surely it becomes a bigger threat to it's handlers?," experts in the field were quick to reassure.
@lillollpoi, a former zookeeper at a UK Safari Park, responded: "Keeper here... in the UK we can’t go in enclosures with Category A animals without them being tranqed, big cats, giraffes, rhinos, chimps etc any contact is kept to a minimum and we only really enter to place food and for tigers this is only every few days."
They added: "The vast majority of the public do genuinely believe we handle these animals and therefore have special relationships with them (we do not it would eat me too) they are shocked to hear we don’t hand feed them unless unwell and if we do it’s via tong and through the gate".
Reece Oliver, an animal keeper speaking to Sky News, suggested the big cat could have initially mistaken the man for something to play with, YorkshireLive reports. Speaking to Sky News, Oliver explained how the tiger, named Altai, might have reacted when the man entered its territory. He said: "He's not sure whether it's an enrichment toy. It looked, from the videos that we've seen online, that the tiger was playing with him."
"I don't think he was actually going to try and kill the man because I think he would have done it far sooner," he said. "But obviously you're talking about a 200 kilo cat. The pressure from his jaw, from his claws, they're catastrophic injuries for a human. There's pretty much less than a 1% chance of a survival."
However, the keeper emphasised that it would be wrong to draw firm conclusions before the investigation had been completed. "But, until we see the evidence, we can't say what happened because I wasn't there. Until the investigation's over, it's hard to say exactly what's happened," he told Sky News.
