Man has jumped into Tiger enclosure

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

At Yorkshire wildlife park.Anyone seen the video? I live local to it and the video of the man wagging his finger at it telling it no like a toddler is shocking.Hes lucky he wasnt killed.

Genuinely can't believe people come on and post this kind of thing without even bothering to look at literally any news site, Google or read the thread

If their enclosures weren't properly secured then they would have failed their annual inspection and been forced to close. There are regular testing procedures which have to be documented and evidenced for the inspection. A zoo inspection (particularly around the carnivore enclosures), is like an OFSTED on steriods. There will be an investigation done as to how the man got in and the actions the staff took and that will decide the fate of the park. The enclosure looks to have quite a few visitors around it so the time it would have taken to clear the area before shooting the tiger would have made no difference to the unfortunate outcome. The gas gun was the quickest and safest way to get the tiger away but, sadly, the damage had already been done.

I agree that exclusion would be both unfair and undesirable. People with LDs should be enabled to lead as fulfilling a life as possible. However, the risk assessment for this resident to visit this wildlife park was either badly flawed or not implemented correctly, and possibly the same applies to the man involved in the crocodile incident at the Huntingdon zoo.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if organisations that support adults with LDs are seriously considering what activities are safe and appropriate for their clients. I just hope it doesn't lead to a return to the bad old days when LD adults were basically shut away without any access to the outside world or stimulating activities.

If we were talking about a murderer, sure. Not worthy of sympathy. But here we have people chatting shit after somebody’s son, brother etc. was killed.

Possibly not even identified formally to his family, and people know nothing online are just spewing hatred. That will be unbelievably crushing to the family, and in the context of him possibly having mental health issues or a learning disability, it’s particularly vile.

This is someone’s son. Of all the comments to respond to, I don’t know why choose one showing empathy.

Shooting the tiger might have been a blessing. I don't know. I can't imagine he has much of a life constrained to a few acres of land, not being allowed to hunt live prey, living in an unnatural environment. And I don't know his history but it's quite possible that his life is better now than it once was.

And whilst the victim wasn't responsible for the tiger being in captivity, neither was the tiger responsible for the man being in his environment.

And btw, this is a debate. People should be allowed to post their opinion without being called "dumb".

Given that autism is now known to be genetic it is could it be due to more autistic adults becoming parents?

Back in the day they may not have formed relationships or got married because they were kept out of sight.

This animal is not "savage". It did what was in its nature to do. It's like when there are headlines about a surfer being "viciously attacked" by a shark. There's nothing vicious about it. Sharks gonna shark. Tigers gonna tiger.

Can you suggest any other reason for someone to get into a tiger enclosure and wag his finger at it, telling it No when it's attacking him, other than massively reduced/compromised cognitive function?

Who was supposed to be supervising him is irrelevant IMO. He could have absconded from home/residential care.

What's more important is that, if you're going to keep a dangerous killing machine like a tiger in a publicly accessible place, is that you ensure it is totally secure from all angles.

Just because something hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean the risk of it is just ignored. That's what risk assessments are for.

Indeed. A very anthropomorphic take. The tiger didn't have any malice in the moment, only its instincts.

We've gone from "savage beast" to "dangerous killing machine" now. Wonder what's next?

How do you justify releasing animals who have been born in captivity into the wild who have never hunted for food and are the prey of poachers?

Are you happy for many endangered species to die out?

People need to see this for what it was. An accident. The animal wasn’t at fault. The man wasn’t at fault - if it’s true that he had disabilities that made him unable to fully understand the danger of the situation. Why people immediately jump to conclusions and start dishing out insults and retribution before the facts have even emerged is beyond me. It’s shameful.

But the world is full of very dangerous things for those who can't defend themselves from risk. I could step out onto the main road outside my house without looking, and wouldn't get to do it very often before being fatally hit. It's not possible to engineer the world so that all potential fatal actions are impossible to do.

All the new details is exactly why I don’t comment when these sort of things happen

Did I think oh god what an idiot when it was first announced a man was in the tiger enclosure?

Sure, but since there’s usually other factors I waited

Now it appears as if he was mentally delayed. It’s sad that this happened. He must have been terrified

I don't think there's any suggestion that the enclosure was inadequately secured. You just can't mitigate against everything. Most people wouldn't even have been physically capable of climbing in.

I do think it's reasonable that the park operates on the assumption that anyone who doesn't realise the danger and wishes to climb into a dangerous enclosure, is adequately supervised.

I think it's probably likely, obviously we don't know the facts yet which is what I was meaning.

Though if his cognitive function is massively reduced/compromised, how would he have managed to get YWP tickets if he had absconded from home/residential care?

The risk isn't ignored. They have passed all safety inspections with no concerns and they are obviously rigorous due to the animals involved. I imagine it does also involve some personal responsibility though as the risk can never be 0% if people are willing to scale large fences, risk electric fences etc and for those incapable of personal responsibility such as children, those with LD etc should be supervised where it isn't possible for them to climb into enclosures.

The vast, vast, vast majority of people including children, those with LD etc clearly visit zoos and wildlife parks without incident. This is a very unfortunate incident and also rare.

I have been to YWP several times. The enclosures are secure. I suspect that when they were being built no-one thought that anyone would want to climb in.

I think he must have jumped down from the walkway, although it hasn't been confirmed. The walkway is very high up and anyone of sound mind would have worked out that jumping would probably result in a broken leg.

Having said that I expect that they will review the current enclosure system and add some extra security so that this doesn't happen again.

I don't think YWP are at fault at all.

In which case why not a reserve in or near their natural habitat? They’re ‘on show’ in a ‘wild life park’ in Doncaster purely for entertainment, because to ensure the species thrives it’s surely better it’s as far away from human interaction as possible…

Also: if humans had me in a tiny enclave, and i had no zebras to run after or lakes with hippos just plenty of people staring at me all day I might a) be bored or in a bad mood and b) welcome any human thrown at me i can toy around with.

Having said that I expect that they will review the current enclosure system and add some extra security so that this doesn't happen again.

Unless they do what Berlin Zoo did when a woman climbed over multiple barriers plus a 5ft wall into their polar bear enclosure back in 2009 and say they can never fully prevent people from climbing in and didn't make any changes. The woman was seriously injured by the polar bear but survived so that may make a difference too.

If that was possible I'm sure it could have been done. I doubt very much that Putin cares about the fate of the tigers and leopards in his country.

I thought this thread was deleted or was that another one?

There's no evidence to say he had any carers, all reports from people there say he was alone.

It was reinstated. I think MNHQ are keeping an eye on it. Some of the worst posts are still being deleted and they are responding very quickly to reports.

I just heard on Sky News that the decision was taken not to euthanise, and I'm wondering why that was even a consideration. The tiger was behaving naturally.

Everything I've read from the others that were there are saying he was alone, no carers. So one does need to wonder if that is indeed the case how cognitively impaired he is, to have presumably got the tickets, got there himself etc.