The winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been disqualified.
At the end of last year questions were raised about the authenticity of the winning image. You can check out this post for a little more background info but the short version is that the authenticity of the image was questioned. Was the wolf really wild? Was the image taken on the wild?
The judges and owners of the competition have released an official statement in which they confirm that the image is in fact of a tame, trained wolf. Images of tame animals are allowed in the competition but this has to be made clear from the start. To that end, the winning image has been disqualified from the competition.
The winning photographer, José Luis Rodríguez, denies the allegations but the breach of rule 10 of the competition has resulted in him not being awarded the £10,000 prize money and being stripped of the prestigious title of WIldlife Photographer of the Year.
You can read the official statement from the competition organizers by clicking here.
I have no doubt that the debate will continue for a whole and that we will never truly now whether the image was in fact of a wild wolf or not but I am sure that the judges will be looking at this year’s entires a with a little voice in the back of their heads.
It is a sad thing that this had to happen but it only serves to remind us all as to what wildlife photography truly is – wild animals, in their natural environment.
Well respected professional wildlife photographer Andy Rouse shares his thoughts about the incident here.
When you are out in the field, remember to keep it real! 
Gerry
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Have they awarded the prize to the next in line?
Hi Claire!
Not sure. As of yet they have not announced a new overall winner. I reckon with the scandal they will let it calm down and try and save face with this year’s competition. Big drama!!
G
Gerry, I feel really sad after reading you and also Andy Rouse’s thoughts on the subject. I’ll share my first reaction here on this photo.
At first glance I said to myself “Canadian Grey wolfe!” and only after I read that it was supposed to be an “Iberian wolfe”. I’m not a specialist, I only know wild wolves by their voices on a certain evening in my life, but since I was very young, wolves were the animals I loved best and on which I liked to read and document on. And in the last 30 years or so I’ve watched many documentaries about Canadian Grey wolves being reintroduced in several countries where local wolf species have been eradicated in the past, and more, only recently, I have watched a documentary/story about some rare Iberian wolves life in the wild, and they looked different and smaller than the one on this photo, which is the case of all remaining populations of wolves in Europe and even in the USA.
On a more positive note, I’ll say that this event will serve as a lesson for any “future cheater or trickster” to learn and read a bit more about their subject before entering in a competition.
Cheers, Claire-M.
Thanks for the comment Claire. No doubt that this is a lesson for anybody else thinking of doing something similar. Gonna be interesting to see the winning images from this year’s competition!