{"id":2200171,"date":"2026-10-15T09:38:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T06:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2200171"},"modified":"2026-10-15T09:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T06:38:46","slug":"william-chapman-died-from-multiple-traumatic-injuries-in-tiger-attack-inquest-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2200171","title":{"rendered":"William Chapman died from ‘multiple traumatic injuries’ in tiger attack, inquest hears"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/676d\/live\/4c848760-c7c3-11f1-993a-152cbb068da1.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"FamilyFamily handout<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
William Chapman was killed by a tiger after he entered its enclosure at the weekend<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A man who was attacked by a tiger after climbing two fences to enter its enclosure at a wildlife park died of “multiple traumatic injuries”, an inquest has heard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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William Chapman visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster on Saturday and entered the animal’s pen. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The 24-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene and died of “multiple traumatic injuries and animal interaction”, the opening of his inquest at Doncaster Coroner’s Court heard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Senior coroner Nicola Mundy said he had a history of mental illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had suffered previous bouts of psychosis. His family had raised concerns about his contact with Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust, the hearing was told. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Chapman was under adult mental health services in Doncaster but was “highly functioning and independent with no care requirements”, the inquest heard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The self-employed online trader was born in Chichester, West Sussex, and living in Doncaster at the time of his death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Coroner’s officer Caitlin Brookes said his family had expressed “a number of concerns” in relation to his contact with mental health services, with the trust launching an investigation following his death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A trust spokesperson said it would “continue to respect and protect patient confidentiality at all times and cannot comment on William’s care”, but confirmed his family were aware of the investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"EllaElla Ford<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
An eyewitness took a photograph of the tiger at the wildlife park shortly before the incident<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Brookes told the hearing: “He was approached by the tiger and the ensuing physical contact between the tiger and Mr Chapman led to him sustaining multiple traumatic injuries which rapidly led to his death.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Park staff secured the tiger and paramedics attended but confirmed his death at the scene.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The senior coroner said her office was awaiting a more substantial report as to the extent of his injuries. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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South Yorkshire Police provided a number of witness statements from the public and staff who were at the wildlife park at the time, the hearing was told.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mundy instructed staff to contact Yorkshire Wildlife Park to ask them to keep any relevant CCTV and inform the coroner of any previous visits by Chapman to the park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After opening the inquest, which Chapman’s family chose not to attend, on Thursday morning, Mundy adjourned proceedings until 18 March 2027.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Speaking after the hearing, a neighbour of Chapman told the BBC he was “very polite and well-spoken” and a “lovely man”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Josh, 24, who lived in the same building as Chapman, said: “He’d always have a laugh and a joke. He was quite well kept, he’d look after himself physically. He loved his F1, he’d talk for hours about his F1 if he could.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Discussing the online comments and speculation in the aftermath of the incident, he said: “People didn’t know him. If you don’t know him, don’t make a comment.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Park closed<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The incident, which took place shortly after 13:30 BST on Saturday, led to the evacuation of the wildlife park. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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An eyewitness described seeing Chapman wearing headphones and “pacing around” near the enclosure before he went in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  • What we know about wildlife park tiger attack<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    Mobile phone footage, believed to be from Chapman, appears to show the inside of the enclosure as he approaches the tiger across a patch of grass.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    The park remains closed and a reopening date is yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    A park spokesperson previously said the rare Amur tiger involved, called Altai, remained safely in the enclosure and would not be euthanised.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    A health and safety investigation has also been launched by City of Doncaster Council.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Listen to highlights from <\/i>South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest <\/i>episode of Look North<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

    [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cxr5y83v1eldo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/676d\/live\/4c848760-c7c3-11f1-993a-152cbb068da1.jpg”] Family handout William Chapman was killed by a tiger after he entered its enclosure at the weekend A man who was attacked by a tiger after climbing two fences to enter its enclosure at a wildlife park died of “multiple traumatic injuries”, an inquest has heard. William Chapman visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2200171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2200171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2200171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2200171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2200171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2200171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2200171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}