South Yorkshire Police will not identify the man who died after being mauled by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, at the request of his family. The zoo remains closed as investigations continue into the fatal incident, which happened after lunchtime on Saturday.
Zoo closed after fatal tiger attack
The park was evacuated after the man climbed into the enclosure and appeared to try to communicate with the tiger using sign language. The victim's identity will not be released, according to the Press Association, which understands the family requested privacy.
Local resident shares concerns
Angela Seivewright, a local resident, visited the park's gate to lay flowers on Monday. She said she had previously seen adults with special needs at the park with carers who appeared to be “a bit distracted.” She expressed sadness at the reaction to the man's death on social media.
Ms Seivewright said: “I believe that the person who was killed had additional needs. And, when I looked at social media over the weekend, when I said I hoped the person was OK, I got really bullied a lot – saying that he deserved to die. I have a special needs child and I think he was doing sign language to the tiger. So, it just felt it was really unfair that people were almost wishing him to die as opposed to not wanting anybody to be hurt. So it was really upsetting. My daughter goes to school next door and we live around the corner. And I just thought there would be way more flowers here.”
Investigation ongoing
The zoo remained closed on Monday following the incident. The investigation into the circumstances of the death is ongoing.
