Bulgaria News
Family handout of William Chapman; Screenshot
The man who inexplicably leapt into a tiger’s enclosure in a British wildlife park and had a bizarre, caught-on-video encounter with the beast before he was fatally mauled was a child actor who struggled with “significant mental illness,” his family said.
The now viral video shows William Chapman, 23, inside the enclosure at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in northern England Saturday, where a more than 400-pound Siberian tiger named Altai bit his back and tried to bat him around like a cat toy.
Chapman worked as an actor in Britain on BBC’s True Stories and ITV’s May Contain Nuts, his brief IMDB profile showed.
“The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened,” Chapman’s family said in a statement Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
“William was a bright, warm and engaging young man whom his family dearly loved – and William loved them back.
“Sadly, William suffered from significant mental illness over a number of years and was consequently prescribed strong medication,” they wrote. “It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death.
“We would ask everybody to respect that process.”
The acting school Chapman once attended also issued a statement.
Jackie Palmer Stage School in southeast England said it was “deeply saddened” by Chapman’s death, adding, “we loved watching William grow, both as a person and as a performer.”
Police asked the public not to share video of the disturbing incident but it spread like wildfire online, and even became fodder for President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account.
It’s unclear how Chapman got into Altai’s enclosure, but he had time to upload a five-second video he apparently took as he approached the big cat.
In the brief footage, Chapman is heard breathing heavily while Altai sits on top of a wooden structure in a shady spot.
The post Tiger Victim Identified as a ‘Dearly Loved’ Child Actor Struggling With ‘Significant Mental Illness’ first appeared on Mediaite.
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