First footage of tiger who mauled man to demise as beast on show at park reopening
Yorkshire Wildlife Park reopened on Friday morning nearly a week on from the horrifying tiger incident which claimed the life of William Chapman, who suffered with bouts of psychosis
Altai the tiger has been pictured on display during the reopening of the park today(Image: Andrew Stenning/Daily Mirror)
Altai the tiger, who mauled William Chapman to death at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, has been pictured at the zoo today after the park reopened nearly a week following the fatal incident.
Pictures show the tiger roaring while relaxing on a patch of grass within its enclosure on Friday morning after the park reopened. The reopening of the zoo has been met mostly with praise, with people online saying it was “great news” and “fantastic”. One person even said they would book the zoo for next week.
Tragic tiger victim Mr Chapman, 23, died after suffering multiple traumatic injuries, an inquest opening into his death heard on Thursday.
An inquest opening recorded Mr Chapman’s provisional cause of death as suffering multiple traumatic injuries(Image: South Yorkshire Police/the Press Association)
A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Karzai gave a provisional cause of death as 1A multiple traumatic injuries and 1B animal interaction. A fuller report will be provided. An inquest date has been set for March 18 next year.
An officer told the inquest: “During my communications with Mr Chapman’s family they confirmed he had a history of mental illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had suffered previous bouts of psychosis and was under the care of Doncaster Mental Health Services.
“Despite his diagnosis Mr Chapman was highly functioning and independent. His family have expressed a number of concerns in relation to his contact with mental health services leading up to his death.”
Altai the tiger feasting on a huge chunk of meat(Image: Charley Atkins / SWNS)
The court heard Mr Chapman had an occupation as a trader.
The coroner heard Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust had commissioned a Patient Safety Incident Investigation (PSII) to probe his contact with services.
Mr Chapman’s family said they “are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their upmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did”.
The tiger is on display at the park today(Image: Andrew Stenning/Daily Mirror)
The coroner added: “I have been led to believe the Rotherham South Yorkshire Trust have commissioned an independent patient safety investigation.”
Doncaster City Council will also conduct a health and safety investigation.
The coroner’s officer has been asked to contact Yorkshire Wildlife Park to ensure any CCTV is obtained. She has also asked to find out if Mr Chapman attended Yorkshire Wildlife Park previously.
Mr Chapman suffered with psychosis and schizophrenia(Image: Family Handout/PA Wire)
Mr Chapman’s next door neighbour revealed his disbelief upon watching the news and seeing his friend’s face.
Josh Anderson said: “We had no idea what had happened, we just knew someone had jumped into the tiger’s enclosure. But then we saw his face on the news.
“Me and my missus had just woken up and we looked at each other and said, ‘What the f***’.”
Mr Chapman filmed as he approached the tiger after jumping into the enclosure
At the time of Mr Chapman’s death, he was living in a one-bedroom, £120,000 flat less than five miles from Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Josh, 24, moved in next door around four months ago. He said Mr Chapman would spend time in the nearby Ballers Sports Bar and was a “lovely man”.
Josh, who lives with his girlfriend, said: “I knew William, I have been here about four to five months and William was already here.
Mr Chapman had posted a number of images to his Instagram account on the day of his death(Image: Not known)
“I knew him from work, he was a lovely, lovely man. He was absolutely harmless. He definitely struggled with [mental health problems].
“For the first year in the pub he would come in and he would struggle to speak to people. He would come in and just linger and wouldn’t speak. But for the past six months he had become very approachable, very friendly.”
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