In America, They Have 'Suicide By Cop'. Over Here, We Go One Better...

...and choose 'suicide by tiger'

The devastated family of a child actor who was mauled to death by a tiger have paid tribute to their 'bright, warm and engaging' son who suffered from 'significant mental illness'.

But not, to the immense frustration of all the armchair experts and disability activists who commented on the story,  autism or leaning difficulties. Just your garden variety nut whose life didn;t turn out as he'd planned, so why not end it all in spectacular fashion?.

William Chapman, 24, died on Saturday after climbing into a big cat's enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster, where he was attacked by a 200kg Siberian tiger named Altai.

'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.'

Why should they? People kill themselves all the time, usually not by spoiling everyone's nice day out, but by ruining their commute home, but even so, the only person that could tell you why isn't around to... 

It emerged on Tuesday night that Mr Chapman was a 'passionate' child actor who appeared in an ITV comedy drama.

Then we must be thankful he chose only to delete himself from the world, unlike others. 

But his acting work apparently largely stopped during his adolescence and he appeared to not have had any screen work for many years before his tragic death on Saturday in the tiger's cage at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster.

In a statement, the park said: 'Many, many people have contacted us about Altai, the tiger. 'We can reassure everyone that he is safe and well and will not be euthanized as a result of this incident.

Why should it be? It's too late for that to do any good, and he's no more dangerous now that he was before a disturbed person chose him as the instument of his suicide. 

The licensing authority for Yorkshire Wildlife Park, City of Doncaster Council, has now launched a health and safety investigation into the man's death.

And will no doubt find the zoo up to code, because nothing could have prevented this.