THE horrifying incident of the young man mauled to death by a tiger is a tragic morality tale of our times.
Because, within minutes of the heartbreaking episode on Saturday afternoon at , video of it was spreading online like wildfire.
Despite urging people not to share the horrifying video out of respect to the family — footage which showed the animal sniffing the unnamed man before poking at him and flipping him over — shared it got.
In its thousands.
Naturally, in the age of , everyone had an opinion.
And felt the world needed to hear it.
Some called for the five-year-old Amur tiger, named , to be euthanised. (Why? Because a tiger acted like a tiger? Idiots).
Others were quick to slam the man who leapt over two fences and into the enclosure, saying he deserved what he got.
The reality is we do not know the precise circumstances of this awful encounter.
All we know is that a young man, someone’s son, quite possibly someone’s very loved brother/nephew/grandson, died.
We also know he was wearing ear pods — something many autistic people do to help with sensory overload management — and people have picked up on the fact he appeared to be using Makaton sign language to communicate with the animal.
The investigation remains ongoing, and likely we won’t find out exactly how and why this accident happened until the coroner’s verdict.
But all of this was so totally avoidable.
Because, IMO, should never have been trapped and bored in a two-acre enclosure in the first place.
Lions, tigers, all wild animals deserve to be born free, living happily in their natural habitat, not gawked over by iPhone-snapping visitors from behind some perspex glass.
And let’s not forget this comes just four months after a .
Zoos, in the main, are deeply depressing places for animals. Prisons.
Some zoos prescribe Prozac for their inhabitants to help with their stress and boredom.
As an animal lover, I am genuinely baffled as to how people get pleasure in staring at these majestic creatures trapped behind bars.
These poor souls are the bearded ladies of the animal kingdom.
A hundred years ago, we thought nothing of paying to watch the travelling circus freaks. Now it seems barbaric.
According to Will Travers, president of wildlife charity Born Free, the argument that zoos protect endangered species is largely redundant because only 15 per cent of the thousands of species held in zoos are considered “threatened”.
The notion that kids benefit is also pretty null and void — a 2014 study by the Society for Conservation Biology found that, of over 2,800 children surveyed following visits to London Zoo, 62 per cent showed zero positive learning outcomes.
Humans are no more entitled to see the Yangtze finless porpoise or the Sumatran rhinoceros than a Great White Shark is to pop out of the sea for a quick beach club mimosa.
It’s time we re-thought how we treat these animals, invest in more sanctuaries and show compassion.
It’s not going to be an easy fix, and it’ll take time, and planning.
But I desperately hope that one day we will look back at zoos in much the same way we now look at Victorian circuses — as shameful relics of a less enlightened age.
Beth trans row’s a real tassle for beleaguered Beeb
FOR once I feel a teeny tiny bit sorry for the – damned if it did and damned if it didn’t.
Trans activists and Young People got in a bit of a tiz on Saturday night after bosses decided to blur out a Protect The Dolls T-shirt worn by contestant .
The statement garment – previously worn by stars including – helps raise funds for a US charity, Trans Lifeline.
The BBC’s defence is that it is “standard practice” in line with editorial guidelines to not use overt branding.
People need to calm down – the previous week bosses blurred an Adidas T-shirt.
And, ultimately, had they not taken action, critics would have been screaming about brainwashing and wokeism.
Lose lose.
LEE’S PR HIT & KISS
latest soon-to-be ex-husband, , has set up a Go Fund Me to get back to England.
The Dubai-based madman hopes the Great British public will help him raise £250,000 to get him back on home soil.
Which is weird given he’s a self-proclaimed billionaire.
Anyway, at the time of writing, Lee – who used this photo of himself kissing a dolphin to promote the “campaign” – has raised £29.
But the comments from his donors are priceless.
“Here’s £1 for the dolphin,” says one. “Poor f***er’s already in captivity, and now it’s being dragged into your PR campaign.”
Another queried: “Is this to keep him locked-up?” while one woman chipped in with a quid, adding: “£1 donated – please don’t spend it all on self-awareness now.”
Brilliant.
UNIQUE TALENT
THE sad death last week of hit me surprisingly hard.
Which is a bit odd because I never met the man and, granted, he wasn’t squeaky clean.
But the former Tory MP was a master storyteller, and my .
Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less; Kane And Abel; and First Among Equals being just three of his page-turners I DEVOURED as a teen, giving me the reading bug.
I’ve long-found bizarre the snobbishness that has greeted his writing.
WE’RE ADHD NATION
WILL the last person in Britain without please turn out the lights?
Another day, another star, then, “coming” out with the utterly ubiquitous condition.
Now it’s the turn of actor who – speaking on a podcast called, yep, “I’m ADHD! No You’re Not” – said he pursued a diagnosis as he “just wanted to know”.
Now, I don’t know Mr Pegg, a very good actor, and he absolutely has every right to get tested, and speak out about it if he thinks it’ll help others.
But with record numbers of Brits claiming benefits for this “disorder”, I just don’t know how helpful it really is.
Plus, in 2026, with phones glued to our hands and constant distraction, aren’t all our attention spans shot anyway?
AN ACT OF EVIL
THE harrowing story of has been turned into a play, produced by the Young Vic Theatre.
Next month’s one-off performance re-tells the horror of Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband repeatedly drugging and raping her, along with 51 other men.
The play, astonishingly, is sold out.
Quite why anyone would voluntarily pay to watch the systematic and catastrophic abuse of a woman is beyond me.
That’s not entertainment.
