The family of a man killed by a tiger at a UK wildlife park have expressed their severe distress regarding the circulation of online media content after US President Donald Trump reposted a video of the incident.
William Chapman, 23, was fatally mauled after entering an enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, on Saturday. Described by his family as bright, warm, and engaging, Chapman suffered from severe mental illness, and his relatives stated that the ongoing sharing of online footage is deeply offensive during an exceptionally vulnerable time.
Among those who circulated the media was Trump, who posted a video clip of the tiger attack to his 13 million followers on the Truth Social platform on Tuesday. The footage depicted the tiger biting and clawing Chapman as he sat in the enclosure, accompanied by a caption telling people never to mess with nature, though it did not show the fatal conclusion.
Later, the US president shared a second post featuring an artificial intelligence-generated video of himself smiling, chasing, and play-fighting with the tiger to the tune of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Relatives released a statement on Tuesday evening saying they are utterly devastated and asking the public to stop publishing and circulating the offensive content.
The family noted that Chapman had suffered from significant mental illness for several years and was prescribed strong medication, adding that it will be up to the coroner to determine what role this played in his death while urging the public to respect the investigative process.
As a child, Chapman appeared in the ITV comedy drama May Contain Nuts and BBC Learning series True Stories, and previously attended the Jackie Palmer stage school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which paid tribute to him as a cherished former student.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire Wildlife Park confirmed that the Amur tiger involved, named Altai, will not be euthanised. The facility has remained closed since the weekend, and Doncaster city council has launched a health and safety investigation, with an inquest scheduled to open at Doncaster coroner's court on Thursday morning.