Tiger kills man who climbed into enclosure at a British zoo

A tiger at a British zoo has killed a young man who climbed over a barrier on Saturday and got into its enclosure. According to police, Chapman arrived at the zoo alone in the morning.

One visitor said the young man had been “jumping around and dancing” beforehand, then climbed into the enclosure despite desperate attempts by other people to stop him and pull him back. A woman who had come to the zoo with her children tried to grab him as he went over the fence. “He overpowered her and jumped” into the enclosure, another eyewitness said. According to him, the woman was badly shaken: she said she had tried to drag the man back, but would otherwise have risked her own life.

Chapman was filming himself as he climbed in, and then filmed the 190-kilogram tiger lying on a wooden platform. Other footage records the man shouting “no” and “stop” at the animal several times as it attacks him in front of terrified families with children. One witness said that “blood was visible” when the predator seized the man “by the neck”.

Park staff fired two shots into the air to scare the animal off and reach the victim. Paramedics arrived shortly after 1:30 pm local time, but it was too late to help the man: he was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Monday, park officials said the tiger, named Altai, was “safe and well” and that the animal would not be put down, as first reports after the attack had suggested.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz