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The tiger that fatally mauled a visitor at a British wildlife park over the weekend will not be euthanized, authorities said Sunday.
Altai, a young male Siberian tiger, was filmed biting and clawing at the parkgoer’s back after the man climbed into the big cat’s enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in northern England on Saturday afternoon.
The unidentified man is believed to have leapt from a viewing platform shortly after asking a stranger to take a picture of him with the 420-pound tiger.
The man was dragged away by Altai before rangers fired two warning shots from a shotgun to scare the tiger back into his pen.
“We would like to thank everyone who has expressed their concern following yesterday’s tragic incident,” Yorkshire Wildlife Park said in a statement on Sunday reported by BBC News.
“Our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies remain with the family and loved ones of the man who sadly lost his life.
We have obtained audio footage of the currently unidentified man minutes before he was mauled to death by a tiger Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
In the video we can hear him asking a couple to take a few pictures for him with the tiger in the background.#YorkshireWildlifePark pic.twitter.com/1EEXDR5dY5
— Alex K Phillips (@AlexKTalks) October 10, 2026
“Many, many people have contacted us about Altai, the tiger. We can reassure everyone that he is safe and well and will not be euthanised as a result of this incident,” the wildlife reserve said.
The park remained closed Sunday after the death.
Altai is one of two Siberian tigers at the wildlife park. He was brought in to mate with a female Siberian tiger named Tschuna.
The two big cats are kept in a 2-acre enclosure with woodlands and a waterfall pool and surrounded by a 16-foot fence.
A viewing platform at a corner of the enclosure has a 3-foot “stand-off” fence which the man is believed to have climbed over.
No reason has yet been given for why the visitor climbed into the enclosure.
He appeared to be dancing with his AirPods in and “psyching himself up” before entering, visitors told the Daily Mail.
“I tried to stop him,” a woman can be heard saying in the background during video filmed moments before Altai killed the man.
A witness claimed the man posed and took pictures of the tigers moments before tragedy struck.
In the video, the man can be seen pointing at the tiger as if trying to tell it off, with some users speculating he was making the gesture for “bad” in Makaton, a language system similar to British Sign Language often used by people with difficulties communicating.
“Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene,” South Yorkshire Police said in a statement Saturday.
Black screens were put up around the visitors’ path to prevent people from seeing the gruesome scene in the enclosure, and an air ambulance was spotted circling before landing nearby.
The incident has gathered international attention, with even infamous big-cat owner and star of Netflix’s “Tiger King” Carole Baskin weighing in on what happened, insisting the animal “was not doing anything wrong” when it fatally mauled the man.
