A rare tiger at a UK zoo will not be euthanised after a man who climbed into its enclosure was killed in an attack.
The man, who has not been formally identified, climbed into the enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park at about 1.30pm on Saturday local time (Sunday morning AEDT).
Altai the tiger will not be euthanised after a man was fatally attacked at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Yorkshire Wildlife Park
“The tiger subsequently attacked the man, resulting in serious injury,” police said in a statement.
Paramedics treated the man but he died at the scene.
“The man’s family is aware and is being supported by specialist officers. Our thoughts are with them at this distressing time,” police said.
The tiger, a rare Amur or Siberian tiger called Altai, came to the wildlife park in February last year, and turned five in September according to a post on the park’s Facebook page.
In a statement online, the park confirmed the tiger was well.
“Many, many people have contacted us about Altai, the tiger,” the park said in a statement on social media.
“We can reassure everyone that he is safe and well and will not be euthanised as a result of this incident.”
Witnesses at the zoo told the BBC they saw a man in his 20s wearing headphones and “pacing” on the walkway by the enclosure just before the attack.
Police have said the man visited the park alone.
Ella Ford, 24, told the BBC “he jumped in and crawled in front of the tiger, where the tiger was perched and just lay there”.
She said the man had previously climbed the enclosure barriers and had been spoken to by a woman before jumping.
She said he shouted for help as the tiger attacked, but visitors were quickly evacuated from the area.
A man was “trying to bang on the fence to try and deter the tiger away, but it obviously wasn’t doing anything”, Ford said.
Amur tigers are the largest big cats in the world, with males weighing an average of 160kg to 190kg.
The species is endangered, with a wild population estimated in the hundreds – though that’s a recovery after it shrank to fewer than 50 in the 1940s.
The wildlife park’s latest update, posted overnight, said it remained closed today.
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