A 24-year-old former child actor filmed himself slowly approaching a resting tiger inside its enclosure at a British wildlife park, then uploaded the clip to Instagram minutes before the animal mauled him to death, according to reports.
William Chapman entered the Amur tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on Saturday afternoon after climbing down from a raised walkway, witnesses and police said. He was alone at the park, wearing headphones, and had been seen pacing and dancing near the enclosure before asking visitors to take his picture with the big cat in the background.
In the short, now-deleted Instagram video, Chapman can be heard breathing heavily as he walks across the grass toward the roughly 200kg male tiger, named Altai, which was lying on a wooden platform. Shocked onlookers are heard shouting “Oh my God” and “seriously” in the background as he closes the distance.
Eyewitnesses said a woman desperately tried to pull him back and stop him from entering the enclosure, but he overpowered her and jumped or climbed roughly 12 to 15 feet down. Once inside, he crawled or walked toward Altai. Visitors banged on the sides of the enclosure and shouted for him to get out. Zookeepers fired air shots in an attempt to distract the tiger.
When the tiger began pawing at him, Chapman reportedly screamed “Stop!” and “No, no, no!” repeatedly. Some accounts say he told the animal to “stop being naughty” and appeared to make a “bad” gesture in Makaton, a simplified sign language. One witness told reporters Chapman seemed “not attached to reality” and had been bowing or acting as if in a trance before the attack. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite emergency efforts. Police have described him as vulnerable.
Chapman, believed to be in his early-to-mid 20s, was a former pupil of the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe. As a child, he appeared in the ITV show May Contain Nuts alongside Shirley Henderson (known for playing Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films) and Darren Boyd, and also portrayed Edward Jenner in a BBC series.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park said its thoughts were with Chapman’s family. Officials confirmed Altai, which arrived from a zoo in Norway last year, was uninjured, “safe and well,” and would not be euthanized. The park remained closed for several days while the City of Doncaster Council conducted a health and safety investigation. Floral tributes were left at the entrance.
The incident has raised questions about enclosure security at the popular attraction, though experts noted that determined individuals can sometimes breach even well-designed barriers. Graphic footage of the attack itself also circulated online, prompting police to urge the public not to share it.
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