It was the stuff of nightmares

What started out as a day out for visitors to Yorkshire Wildlife Park ended in a way nobody could ever have imagined, when a man entered the tiger enclosure and was mauled to death.

Floral tributes have been laid at the entrance to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. | Iconic

placeholder image — Floral tributes have been laid at the entrance to Yorkshire Wildlife Park. | Iconic

It is a day those visitors, staff at the wildlife park and emergency service workers will never forget.

Wildlife park staff described as being “deeply affected” by the tragedy are being offered specialist support as they come to terms with what they witnessed.

Horrifying video of the tragic scenes shared on social media on the day of the attack will presumably have been viewed by millions.

File photo of a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park | SWNS

In the 25 years I have spent as a local news reporter, there are few things I have covered which are quite as shocking.

In Sheffield, there’s rarely a day without some breaking incident or another - a shooting, a stabbing, a serious collision, a major court case concluding, weather related incidents.

But on Saturday, the day started out slowly on the news front....until a reader emailed our sister paper, the Doncaster Free Press, to say a man had “jumped into the tiger enclosure” at the popular tourist attraction.

Our colleagues shared the tip-off and initially we suspected that what we were being told would prove to be untrue.

An air ambulance was deployed to the wildlife park | SWNS

After all, it seemed so unlikely.

The popular tourist attraction has operated since 2009 and up until this weekend had only ever been in the headlines for the right reasons - vital conservation work and its contribution to Doncaster’s economy, and the like.

But shortly after the initial message about the tiger attack, a Facebook message then arrived from another reader suggesting the same thing, and reporting that the park had been evacuated.

Moments later a former Doncaster Free Press colleague got in touch to say her daughter had been at the park at the time and it was true - the unthinkable had happened.

The scene at Yorkshire Wildlife Park after it was evacuated and closed due the tiger attack | Charley Atkins / SWNS

From a reporting point of view, it was action stations.

But we had to get confirmation, so reporters set about contacting the wildlife park, emergency services and their contacts to verify what we were hearing.

In the meantime we were sent the horrifying video footage of the mauling.

It was truly shocking.

To hear the screams of horrified witnesses and the man under attack crying “no, no” will be something which will be hard to forget.

Our story was published with South Yorkshire Police initially explaining that the man had been seriously injured.

A couple of hours later the force confirmed that he had, sadly, died in the attack.

So rare are attacks like this that the story has been covered everywhere, even abroad.

We have covered the death extensively, but this is only the beginning.

There are so many questions which need answered.

- How was it possible for a visitor to enter the enclosure? Will safety improvements need to be made before the park it can re-open? Will other wildlife parks and zoos have to make safety upgrades? Could anyone have done anything to prevent this?

But there’s also one other - how will the family and loved ones of the young man who lost his life ever come to terms with this and move on.

I suspect the answer is, they never will.

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy.

Watch our behind the headlines feature on the tragic incident on YouTube - https://youtu.be/uqdxh8qoacs