On October 10, a man in his 20s entered an enclosure in the Land of the Tigers attraction at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, UK—a decision that proved fatal.
Altai, a Siberian (Amur) tiger who was until then relaxing under a tree inside its enclosure, approached and “stalked” the man before making a fatal attack.
The man has since been identified as former child actor William Chapman, who appeared in the ITV production May Contain Nuts and played Edward Jenner in BBC’s True Stories.
Eyewitnesses saw him “taking selfies” before the tiger had its jaws on him, and then get “on all fours” to beg the animal for mercy.
Amid more such unsettling accounts of the final moments of Chapman’s life, old posts made by his mother surfaced, raising new questions.
A viewer dug up William Chapman’s nine-year-old photo with a cheetah shared by his mother
Facebook / South Yorkshire Police
While the names of Chapman’s family members haven’t been revealed, internet sleuths identified his mother as Virginia Burges through past blogs and social media posts.
One user shared a photo Burges had posted a few years back of Chapman with his two sisters.
They also posted a screenshot in which Burges advised a fellow netizen to use a “holistic product” she found useful for her son, who she said suffered from “schizophrenia and su*c*dal ideation.”
But it was the third photo which caused quite a stir, as it showed a young William touching a cheetah from behind a fence, seemingly on a 2017 trip to Uganda. A second photo showed a close-up of the cheetah’s face.
“Maybe the family really shouldn’t have let him go to a wildlife park on his own. What a very, very silly mistake they made,” one user reacted to the photos.
“Photo taken before disaster,” a second said. A third wrote, “What a loonie bin.”
Chapman’s family said he was on “strong medication” for mental health issues
Burgess wrote in her 2014 blog about her son’s theatrical pursuits, revealing he had attended the Jackie Palmer Stage School in High Wycombe since he was about 4.
“He has learned a great deal in his time there, and whilst he doesn’t enjoy singing and dancing so much now that he’s a teenager, he is passionate about acting and drama,” she wrote about Chapman, who was 12 at the time.
A day after Chapman’s tragic demise, his family released a statement, calling him a “bright, warm, and engaging young man” whom they loved dearly.
“Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication,” the statement went on, adding that they would leave it up to the coroner to decide what part it played in his unexpected passing.
“The family is utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened,” the note added. “The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.”
The statement followed US President Donald Trump’s posting of a controversial AI-generated video of him grappling with a tiger. Before that, he shared the footage of Chapman being fatally attacked inside the tiger enclosure with the caption, “Don’t ever mess with nature!”
An expert weighed in on why the tiger may have attacked Chapman for jumping into the enclosure
Reece Oliver, a private animal conservationist and licensed zookeeper, commented on why Altai pounced on Chapman.
“The only thing that goes into that enclosure normally would be sort of enrichment toys or food, so I think he was probably just playing, using his predatory instinct, seeing what it was, and unfortunately it ended up being a fatal attack,” Oliver told Sky News on October 12.
“It’s hard to say without seeing the evidence what actually happened, but tigers are solitary animals and apex predators. The guy had gone into the tiger’s world, and tigers don’t live by our rules because at the end of the day they’re a tiger.”
When asked if the tragedy should lead to wildlife parks reconsidering their existing policies, Oliver called the park “one of the best in the UK” and added, “The zoo standards are out there, and they are very safe. You can only build so much to stop people.”
A day earlier, the Yorkshire Wildlife Park said Altai was “safe and well” and would not be euthanized because of the incident. The announcement came amid some netizens asking for the animal to be put down due to the violent encounter.
Animal activist, CEO of Big Cat Rescue, and Tiger King star Carole Baskin advocated for Altai in a statement to The Post: “The tiger was not doing anything wrong by being a tiger. I am relieved to hear that the animal was not harmed.”
“Probably shouldn’t encourage that,” one user reacted to Chapman’s mom’s old posts
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