Photographer stripped of prize in ‘animal model’ scandal
The 2009 winner of a prestigious wildlife photography award has been stripped of his prize after judges ruled that his winning entry of a wolf jumping over a gate featured an “animal model”.
Jose Luis Rodriguez denies the allegation, according to a statement issued by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition press office. The competition, run by the Natural History Museum in London and the BBC Wildlife Magazine, attracted more than 43,000 entries.
But judges investigating allegations that the Spaniard’s stunning image had been staged say they have collected evidence proving that the wolf was actually a tame wolf called Ossian which lives in a wildlife park near Madrid and is available for hire for “photographic purposes.”
“The judging panel looked at a range of evidence and took specialist advice from panel judges who have extensive experience of photographing wildlife including wolves,” said competition spokeswoman Louise Emerson.
“Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world’s most prestigious photography competition of its kind. Any transgression of the competition rules is taken very seriously and if entries are suspected of breaching the rules they are disqualified.”
In an interview with the BBC after winning the prize in October, Rodriguez said the image was the product of a great deal of patience and careful observation of the wolves’ movements.
“I wanted to capture a photo in which you would see a wolf in an act of hunting – or predation – but without blood,” he said. “I didn’t want a cruel image.”
Photographer Mark Carwardine, a member of the judging panel, described the photo as “capturing thousands of years of human-wolf interaction in just one moment.”
On Wednesday Carwardine said Rodriguez’s disqualification sent a strong message.
“This is very sad and I think it might make us more suspicious of entries that are too good to be true,” Carwardine told the BBC.
The photo has been removed from an exhibition showcasing the best entries to the competition, Emerson said. The exhibition will tour without a winning entry – though a book of the exhibition including the photo has already been published.
Browse through other winning entries at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year online gallery.