The winner of the prestigious nature photo competition disqualified

The organisation of the world famous nature photo competition Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) has just announced that the winner photo Storybook wolf has been disqualified.

"It saddens us to confirm that after a careful and thorough investigation into the image, the storybook wolf, the co-owners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine have disqualified the winning entry of the photographer José Luis Rodríguez”, says the press statement that was released today at 11 CET.

”The judging panel was reconvened and concluded that it was likely that the wolf featured in the image was an animal model that can be hired for photographic purposes and, as a result, that the image had been entered in breach of Rule 10 of the Competition.”

The rules of the competition are very clear: ”Images of captive animals must be declared. The judges will take preference to images taken in free and wild conditions.” So: a wolf photo representing a wild wolf has better chances to win than a wolf photo with a captive animal in it.

According to the press statement "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.  They also considered the responses to specific questions put to the photographer José Luis Rodríguez.”

According to a apokesperson from the press office there will be no new winner to replace Storybook wolf.

The photographer, Mr Rodríguez, ”still strongly denies that the wolf in the image is a model wolf”, says the press release.

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Suomen Luonto magazine was the first to tell about the investigation that the winner picture and the photographer had faced in mid-December. We published parts of the evidence the competition organisation was investigating.

The statement of the merited wolf researcher Ilpo Kojola from the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute were quoted in media worldwide: ”Why is the wolf jumping high over the fence?”, Kojola pondered. ”It's behaving like a trained animal. It's definitely not natural behaviour in this kind of situation where the animal obviously could sneak between the crossbars”, Kojola stated.

The evidence and the original article and the pieces of evidence can be seen here.

According to our sources in Spain, the photo presents a tame wolf named Ossian who lives in Cañada Real zoological park near Madrid.

Several sources also tell that the photographer José Luis Rodríguez had an ultimatum, 4 January, by which he was supposed to bring into light evidence that would imply his photo is not taken in Cañada Real. No new information emerged.

One of the key pieces of evidence on the way to disqualification was a statement letter from Cañada Real park director to the competition organisation.

Suomen Luonto has a copy of the letter. It says that during several years Rodríguez has photographed almost all of the animals in the park. However, the director of the park states that he has not been aware of the fact that Rodríguez will use the photos taken in the park to enter the prestigious WPY competition.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the world's most prestigious photography competition of its kind. This is the first time the winner of the competition is disqualified. The case of Storybook wolf can well be considered the most significant case of fraud in the history of nature photographing.

Juha Kauppinen

journalist

Suomen Luonto magazine