According to eyewitnesses, the people around the enclosure were frantically telling the young man to "play dead", but he did not understand, and was telling the tiger to "stop being naughty".
One witness said the victim had been "by himself, dancing, with headphones in" moments earlier.
Anthony Hunt had been at the wildlife park with his girlfriend Scarlet, on a date. They had been taking pictures of the animal, called Altai, when they saw its composure change and its head turn.
"We noticed the tiger's behaviour change. Its eyes locked on to something in the enclosure. We thought maybe he's getting fed. When Scarlett was taking photos - we suddenly saw in the camera lens that a guy had entered the enclosure", said Anthony.
The victim "bowed down, on all fours, started praying, and looking up at the sky", he said.
"The tiger was still on the landing at this point" but then "leapt off the landing, and sniffed the guy".
Anthony describes the victim as being almost "in a trance" and "not attached to reality".
Later, the couple spoke to a woman who said she'd "tried to stop him" from entering the enclosure, claiming she'd "tried to pull him back" but was unable to stop him.
"She was shaken up", said Anthony, who claims the woman was there with her two children.
Another witness, Alex Underwood, who had been visiting the wildlife park with his girlfriend, said the victim had asked his partner to take a picture of him shortly before he climbed into the enclosure.
"We were on the tiger bridge and I spotted him - he was dancing with his earphones on," Alex said.
"He said 'can you take a photo of me please?'. She [my girlfriend] said 'yes'. Then he said 'another one, another one'. He didn't look into the camera.
"He looked at us both and said thank you."
Alex, who said he left the bridge with his girlfriend soon after, added: "We heard someone had jumped in and thought of him for some reason."
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, South Yorkshire Police said.
In a statement on social media on Saturday, the park said its "emergency response procedures were immediately activated".
Another statement posted later said that "many, many people" had contacted them about Altai, and confirmed that he is "safe and well" and will not be euthanised.
Members of staff were "deeply affected" by the incident and are receiving specialist support, the statement continued, with the park closed over the weekend.
The park will remain closed all day Monday, while City of Doncaster Council said it had launched a health and safety investigation into the incident.
Videos circulating online appear to show a man being pawed at and grappled by the tiger inside the enclosure.
Animal keeper Reece Oliver told Sky News the 30-stone (200kg) tiger was probably "just playing" when it began pawing the man.
"If it really wanted to kill him, it would have probably killed him within 10 seconds," he said.
"I don't think it knew what he was going to do, because the only thing that goes into that enclosure normally would be enrichment toys or food.
"So, I think he was probably just playing, using his predatory instinct, seeing what it was, what he was, and unfortunately it ended up being a fatal attack."
South Yorkshire Police said it had "received reports of a man entering a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park" on Saturday afternoon.
"The tiger subsequently attacked the man, resulting in serious injury," police said.
"Emergency services attended and sadly, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the man was pronounced dead at the scene."
A Yorkshire Ambulance Service spokesperson confirmed two land ambulances, Yorkshire Air Ambulance, and a doctor had attended the scene.
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Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary and MP for Doncaster North, said he was "deeply saddened" by the incident.
"I send my thoughts and deepest condolences to the family of the individual who died. I am very grateful to the emergency services and staff of the park who responded," he wrote in a social media post.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park opened in 2009, with the Land of the Tigers attraction opening in 2011. The park also houses lions, giraffes, tigers, leopards and black rhinos.
A 300-metre-long raised walkway runs through the attraction, which is a purpose-built, two-acre reserve for Amur tigers, an endangered subspecies with a population of around 500 left in the wild.
Mitte also served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy, from which he suffered.
He drew on his own experience of living with the disability for his Breaking Bad character, bringing greater awareness to the condition.
He also served as president of The Mitte Foundation, supporting philanthropic efforts and community initiatives, while using his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation for people with disabilities.
In a statement, his representative said: "It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist, and passionate disability rights advocate RJ Mitte."
They added that: "At this time, we ask people to respect the privacy of RJ Mitte's family and close ones."
The star's last film was Talking to Strangers (2026), in which he starred alongside Lin Yin, as a man with cerebral palsy who strikes up an unlikely friendship with an energetic young woman.
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Les Mousquetaires, which owns retailer Intermarche, said that approximately 150 of its stores were affected, with the retail group forced to throw all the food away.
Monoprix, which operates around 490 stores in France, said 5% of them were affected - along with 80 Carrefour supermarkets.
Cooperative U was also targeted in the attack, CEO Dominique Schelcher confirmed.
He said that teams had been "fully mobilised" to resolve "the situation as quickly as possible".
Mr Schelcher posted on X: "Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented. It is unacceptable."
Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium have also been affected, according to Felix Aime, a senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research.
Paris resident Geert de Clercq saw Intermarche staff in Paris throwing cartfuls of defrosted food into a giant bin, with broken ice cream tubs littering the street.
The Paris prosecutor's office called the incident a "large-scale" attack, which has resulted in "food losses and fires".
France's Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has tasked the country's National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) with investigating the cyber attack.
A person in his office said France "was coordinating with its European counterparts, as other countries may also be affected".
Dutch supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize - which controls the Netherlands' biggest supermarket chain Albert Heijn and is the fourth-largest grocery retailer in the US - also took several systems offline as it contended with a "security issue" in its network.
Albert Heijn's app and delivery system went down, with customers told there had been a "cybersecurity incident".
It is unclear if there are any links between the issues reported by Ahold Delhaize and the cyber attack in France.
Websites for US retailers Stop & Shop, Giant, Hannaford and Food Lion stores also carried messages saying "site temporarily down".
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ANSSI had identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss, a source close to the French prime minister told Reuters news agency.
Danfoss said that affected stores in France "were running outdated firmware" and that it had "long advised customers to keep supported systems updated with the latest firmware".
Sky News has approached Danfoss for comment.
Henry Rice, from Cranleigh, Surrey, was a signaller on HMS Eastway, a ship which transported Allied troops and equipment to Normandy in 1944.
He arrived off Juno Beach five days after D-Day, and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur order of merit from the French government for his service.
The Spirit of Normandy Trust, a charity that promotes veteran welfare, announced Mr Rice's death in a statement on Monday and called him a "great character with a cheeky smile".
It said he was "committed to remembering those who were sent to war and never returned".
Mr Rice travelled to France in June with a group of veterans to mark the 82nd anniversary of the landings.
He discussed his memories of the war with French schoolchildren alongside fellow Normandy veteran Ken Hay, who died last month aged 101.
He previously told the Press Association about the importance of teaching younger generations about the war, saying in 2024: "I think it's important, this world is dangerous at the moment.
"If those children grow up into adults and know what this is all about, collectively they can go to politicians, Russians can go to Putin and say 'Oi, we've had all this before. We don't want it. Stop it, please'.
"Whether the bigwigs will listen to us is another matter, but I really believe that if the population generally made their feelings known, I don't mean going up and down the street screaming rubbish, the politicians may listen."
After the Normandy landings, Mr Rice served in the Mediterranean and the Far East.
He worked on cruise ships and later joined the local fire service after the war ended.
Mr Rice attended various remembrance events in the UK, including the planting of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London in May 2025 - during which he gave Queen Camilla the last poppy to be placed to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
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The Spirit of Normandy Trust said: "Henry always represented the veterans with dignity, particularly when asked to lay a wreath on behalf of his colleagues or to recite the exhortation or kohima epitaph.
"Henry was a great character, with a cheeky smile that endeared him to everyone he met.
"He will be greatly missed by all and we offer his family our most sincere condolences."
Agents on Monday searched the Washington home of the Democrat representative of Minnesota in an escalation of a criminal investigation that brings renewed scrutiny to the frequent target of the Trump administration three weeks before the US midterm elections.
The search of MS Omar's home so close to next month's midterm contests that will determine control of the House and the Senate was swiftly condemned by top Democrats in Congress.
They raised questions about the timing given longstanding Justice Department protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an election - with the midterms due to take place on 3 November.
In a post on X, congresswoman Omar said: "Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.
"For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced."
The investigation involves whistleblowers, documents and witness testimony - and deals partly with immigration and fraud - Sky News' US partner NBC News reports.
It is part of a years-long criminal investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the US attorney in Minneapolis and the Department of Justice (DoJ).
A DoJ spokesperson said: "Today in the Washington, DC area, Homeland Security Investigations executed a judicially authorised search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal investigation."
HSI is part of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Minnesota Democrats condemned the raid, with the state's governor Tim Walz accusing president Donald Trump of "abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election".
Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, minority whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar of California vowed in a joint statement to "deliver full accountability for the rogue abuse of power from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice".
Mr Trump has previously described the Somali American community as a threat to Minnesota and insulted congresswoman Omar.
In February, he said that Omar and Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom are Muslim, should be "institutionalized" and sent back to "where they came from".
The congresswoman has called the president's focus on her an "unhealthy and creepy obsession", and he has been criticised by various civil rights advocates for his rhetoric.
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During Mr Trump's second term, the DoJ has investigated and charged a range of his perceived political enemies - including FBI Director James Comey, New York state Attorney General Letitia James and Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton.
The case against Ms James and one of two brought against Mr Comey were thrown out by a federal judge, while Bolton pleaded guilty to mishandling classified security information and is due to be sentenced later this month.