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A man has been seriously injured after climbing into a tiger enclosure at a zoo in Yorkshire.
Emergency services raced to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, around 1.30pm on Saturday to find a man had been attacked after entering the compound.
Witnesses told the Yorkshire Post that a black screen had been set up around the enclosure this afternoon. There were reportedly shots fired before the zoo was evacuated.
The zoo is home to two Amur tigers, a 17-year-old tigress who arrived in 2013, and a young male who arrived only last year, then aged three.
Did you see what happened? Contact james.reynolds@independent.co.uk
Wildlife park has two Amur tigers in captivity
Yorkshire Wildlife Park has two Amur tigers in captivity, according to their website.
These include a 17-stone tigress called Tschuna, who arrived in 2013, and a male called Altai, who arrived last year.
They live in the zoo’s Land of the Tiger enclosure, a two acre complex of woodlands, grasslands and a pool.
Victim 'climbed into enclosure' and sustained serious injuries, police say
South Yorkshire Police confirm in a statement that a man was attacked and seriously injured after reportedly entering a tiger enclosure at the park.
They say they responded at 1.35pm on Saturday, and that officers remain on the scene, carrying out enquiries.
Police are working to make contact with the man’s family, they say.
“The tiger remained in the enclosure following the incident and there is no wider risk to the public,” the say.
“We are aware of videos circulating online and we would encourage people not to share this distressing footage.”
In full: Zoo confirms serious incident at tiger enclosure
A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park confirms to The Independent that a serious incident occurred today at the tiger enclosure.
“Our emergency response procedures were immediately activated, and emergency services are currently attending the scene,” they say.
“We are working closely with the authorities to ascertain exactly what happened. The safety and wellbeing of our visitors, staff and animals remain our highest priority.
“The park is now closed and will remain closed tomorrow.”
Air ambulances attended incident at tiger enclosure
Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokesperson confirmed they attended the scene after being called at 1.33pm on Saturday afternoon to an incident at the park.
Two land ambulances, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and a doctor attended the scene, the emergency service has said.