The family of William Chapman, a 23-year-old man who died after being mauled by a tiger at a wildlife park in the United Kingdom, has expressed “severe distress” over the circulation of videos showing the incident, including footage shared by US President Donald Trump.
Chapman was killed on Saturday after entering an enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster. His relatives said the circulation of the footage had added to their grief at a time when they were struggling to come to terms with his death.
Trump reposted a clip of the incident on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, sharing it with his 13 million followers. The video showed an Amur, also known as a Siberian tiger, biting and clawing Chapman while he sat inside the enclosure. At one point, Chapman was seen wagging a finger at the animal. The footage did not show the moment he died.
The US president captioned the video: “Don’t ever mess with nature! President DJT.”
Trump later shared an AI-generated video depicting himself smiling and play-fighting with the tiger. Set to The Tokens’ song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the clip showed him copying Chapman’s pointing gesture before ending with an embrace between the president and the animal.
Will Travers, executive president of the Born Free Foundation, criticised the AI-generated post, describing it as “not only incredibly insensitive”, but also reckless.
“It increases the risk to the lives of humans and captive wild animals,” he said. “Such images and videos can encourage individuals to seek out direct, unrealistic and high-risk contact with captive wild animals.”
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Chapman’s family said they were devastated by their loss and appealed to the public to stop sharing material relating to the attack.
“The family are utterly devastated by their loss and are struggling to come to terms with what has happened. The publication and circulation of deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress at an exceptionally vulnerable time. We ask people to stop doing this.
“The family are hopeful that the relevant authorities will do their upmost to get to the bottom of why our amazing son did what he did.”
The relatives also spoke about Chapman’s struggles with mental illness, saying he had been affected by the condition for several years and had been prescribed strong medication.
“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.
“It will be for the coroner to decide what part this played in his death.
“We would ask everybody to respect that process.”
Chapman had appeared on television as a child. According to IMDb, his credits included ITV’s 2009 comedy drama May Contain Nuts and BBC Learning’s True Stories series.
He also attended Jackie Palmer stage school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The school paid tribute to him in a Facebook post, sharing a photograph from his time as a young student.
“We loved watching William grow, both as a person and as a performer. It was a privilege to be part of his journey and he will be remembered with great fondness by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
“William will be truly missed, and he will always hold a special place in our hearts. Rest in peace, William.”
The school said it was “deeply saddened” by his death.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire Wildlife Park has confirmed that the tiger involved in the incident, named Altai, will not be euthanised. The park has remained closed since the weekend.
Doncaster City Council, which is responsible for licensing the wildlife park, said it had begun a health and safety investigation into the incident.
