Winning Wildlife Photographer Disqualified for Using Trained Wolf

Friday, January 22, 2010
(photo: José Luis Rodríguez)

Photographer José Luis Rodríguez has been stripped of his award as Wildlife Photographer of the Year, presented by the Natural History Museum of London and BBC Wildlife Magazine, after judges concluded Rodríguez used a trained wolf for his winning photo. The image, allegedly of a wild wolf leaping over an old wooden gate, was chosen from 43,000 entries for first prize in October 2009. But contest officials began to suspect the wolf was a “model,” and they consulted experts who compared the winning picture to photos of Ossian, a wolf living in Canada Real, a zoological park near Madrid, Spain, that can be hired for photographic purposes. They concluded that it was the same wolf. Rodríguez has denied using a captured wolf for his photo.

-Noel Brinkerhoff
 

Comments

Basil 14 years ago
It's not a trained wolf but an animal preparation.

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