William Chapman visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on a Saturday afternoon, wearing headphones and pacing near a 200kg male Siberian tiger named Altai before scaling the fence into the enclosure, where he was killed within minutes.
Tragic Encounter at Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Emergency services arrived at the South Yorkshire facility shortly after 13:30 BST on 10 October after Chapman, visiting the park alone, entered the restricted animal area, bbc.com reported. Eyewitnesses watched the brief attack unfold, while online onlookers later shared mobile footage and urged him from afar to play dead. The park was immediately evacuated following the incident.
The facility has remained closed since the attack, with The Guardian noting it stayed shuttered into the following week. City of Doncaster Council launched a statutory health and safety investigation alongside multiple agencies, including South Yorkshire Police and local health authorities.
Family Remembers a Bright and Complex Life
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Chapman’s family described the 23-year-old as a “bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.” They shared that he had suffered from “significant mental illness” over several years and took strong medication, adding that it will be up to the coroner to determine what role those health struggles played in his death.
The family expressed deep devastation and asked the public to respect the formal coroner’s process. They also condemned the circulation of offensive media content online, including a silent 41-second video of the incident reposted by Donald Trump on Truth Social alongside other attack montages, which caused severe distress during an exceptionally vulnerable time, according to RTE.ie.
Early Performing Roots and Stage School Tributes
Before his tragic death, Chapman built a varied background in youth performance. He attended the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where staff shared fond memories of watching him grow as both a person and a performer. The Independent noted that he also appeared as a child actor in the ITV production May Contain Nuts alongside Shirley Henderson and Darren Boyd, and portrayed Edward Jenner in the BBC series True Stories.
Wildlife experts examining the event have suggested that major attractions receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors annually face inherent limitations in completely preventing determined breaches. Meanwhile, park staff confirmed that Altai the Amur tiger remained in his enclosure and would not be euthanised, while specialist support was provided to affected employees.
