Trump Ignites Firestorm After Posting UK Tiger Attack Video
President Donald Trump set off a social media firestorm this week after posting graphic footage of a fatal tiger attack in Britain.
On Tuesday, Trump shared a 41-second clip on Truth Social showing a man being mauled by a tiger at a UK wildlife park, captioning it “Don’t ever mess with nature!” The White House’s “Rapid Response 47” account later reposted the video on X, where it has drawn sharp criticism.
Reaction was swift and largely negative. One user called the post “sick,” while another wrote, “I’m a big supporter but not a fan of this post. To each his own.” Trump followed up with an apparently AI-generated clip of big cats attacking people set to a tinny synthesizer tune — then doubled down again with an AI video of himself wrestling and befriending a smiling tiger to the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
The man in the real footage was identified by the BBC as William Chapman, who died from his injuries after Saturday’s incident at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster. Police said Chapman entered the tiger enclosure before the animal attacked. Two road ambulances and an air ambulance responded, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The park’s “Land of the Tigers” exhibit features a 300-meter raised walkway overlooking Amur tigers — an endangered subspecies with only around 500 left in the wild. The episode marks the latest in a string of provocative social media posts from a president who shows no sign of toning down his online presence.
