Emergency services were called to Yorkshire Wildlife Park shortly after 1.30pm on Saturday following reports that a man had accessed the tiger habitat before being attacked by one of the big cats. A police spokesman confirmed the man suffered serious injuries.
Incident details
South Yorkshire Police said the animal remained contained inside the enclosure. The park near Doncaster, south Yorkshire, was evacuated after the incident.
A spokesman for the force said: "At 1.35pm today we received reports of a man entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. The tiger has subsequently attacked the man and this has resulted in serious injury."
Park response
Yorkshire Wildlife Park first opened in 2009 and later introduced its "Land of the Tigers" section in 2011. The attraction consists of a purpose-built two-acre reserve housing endangered Amur tigers, a subspecies with roughly 500 remaining in the wild. Images of the enclosure on the park's website show a high elevated visitor walkway and fencing above where the tigers roam.
Police said they were aware that the animal attack footage was circulating online, and requested that the public refrain from sharing any videos more widely.
Closure and emergency response
A statement shared by the wildlife park on social media confirmed that a "serious incident" had occurred at the tiger enclosure on Saturday. Management said the site would be closed all weekend as a result of the incident.
The statement continued: "Our emergency response procedures were immediately activated and emergency services are currently attending the scene. We are working closely with the authorities to ascertain exactly what happened. The safety and wellbeing of our visitors, staff and animals remain our highest priority. The park is now closed and will remain closed tomorrow."
Yorkshire Ambulance Service said two land ambulances, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and a doctor were dispatched to the scene on Saturday. Officers were working to make contact with the man’s family, and no further detail was provided at the time.
