(AFP) – US President Donald Trump posted disturbing footage on his Truth Social account Tuesday of a man being fatally mauled by a tiger in Britain, sparking backlash on social media. The 41-second clip of the UK man being attacked Saturday in a wildlife park was also later shared by the White House’s “Rapid Response 47” account on X.
Trump, who regularly posts provocative material on social media, followed up his initial post — which he captioned “Don’t ever mess with nature!” — with a video clip of apparently AI-generated visuals of individuals being mauled by big cats to the tune of a tinny synthesizer. Users on X, where the “Rapid Response 47” account has 2.3 million followers, questioned the president’s judgment, with one calling the post “sick.”
“I’m a big supporter but not a fan of this post. To each his own,” wrote another.
The man in the video, identified by the BBC as William Chapman, later died from his injuries following the Saturday incident, police said. British police responded to reports of a man entering the enclosure at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near the northern city of Doncaster.
“The tiger subsequently attacked the man, resulting in serious injury,” police said in a statement. “Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene,” it added.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service said it had sent two ambulances by road and an air ambulance to the scene. The park’s “Land of the Tigers” feature has a 300-meter (980-foot) raised walkway. From the walkway, visitors can view the park’s Amur tigers in their enclosure which includes woodland, grassland, and a waterfall pool. There are estimated to be only around 500 of the endangered subspecies left in the wild.
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