Comments on: Photographer Stripped of Prestigious Wildlife Award for Cheating

By: The Dark Side of Wildlife Filmmaking

The Dark Side of Wildlife Filmmaking — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:01:32 +0000

[...] the controversy last year surrounding the use of a captive wolf in an award-winning wildlife photograph? Turns out this kind of deception might be common practice [...]

By: Wildlife Competition Miffs Photographers with New Megapixel Requirement

Wildlife Competition Miffs Photographers with New Megapixel Requirement — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:07:08 +0000

[...] Last year the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition dealt with controversy when the winning photographer was stripped of his award for staging his photograph. [...]

By: Giorgio Fonda

Giorgio Fonda — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:02:11 +0000

“The winning image was selected from among 43,135 submitted from 94 countries.” And the jury have choosen as a winner the only one staged. This is the bit that make me think over all.

By: AnestheticSynthetic

AnestheticSynthetic — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:14:20 +0000

That's another thing – a wild wolf would rather crawl under the gate than jump over it.

By: جاك الذيب ! : Tasweery.com موقع تصويري للتصوير الفوتوغرافي

جاك الذيب ! : Tasweery.com موقع تصويري للتصوير الفوتوغرافي — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:07:47 +0000

[...] هو شعورك إن أخبرتك بأن نفس الحكام تراجعوا عن قرارهم و قاموا بسحب الجائزة منه… بل و وضعه بالقائمة السوداء و منعه من المشاركة [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:12:44 +0000

Fantastic shot regardless. A pity if it has been staged however.

By: linquen

linquen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:06:49 +0000

i belive him. if he had something to cover himself with and layd somthing there a wild wolfe could come there let's say it was some meet then the wolfe would be interested and everyone should know any wolfe can jump that hige so i'd say it's not fake

By: Oleg Sklyanchuk

Oleg Sklyanchuk — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:39:54 +0000

Indeed, after taking a careful look at location comparison pictures I have to admit that I was too quick to jump to conclusions.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:06:25 +0000

It always amazes me when people think they can get away with dishonesty. It's an amazing photograph. I guess I should stop calling the photos I took at the Olympic Game Farm (Sequim, WA) “wildlife photography.”

By: Michael Zhang

Michael Zhang — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:40:01 +0000

Hi Oleg,

I definitely agree that the award should be given to another entry. Not sure if they're planning to do so...

Regarding the "proof", I'm not sure what you would consider enough evidence. Here's a quote from one of the articles linked in this post:

"It turns out that the wolf is probably a well-known individual called Ossian from a zoo called Canada Real near Madrid. The facial markings are identical except for a small discrepancy with one ear that could have been attributed to a later fight.

The most compelling evidence, though, comes from the wall and gate over which the wolf is jumping. An identical wall, and more tellingly the strangely shaped tree, can be found in the grounds of the Canada Real zoo where the wolf called Ossian lives.

The photographic evidence seems irrefutable and I find it incredibly arrogant (or naive) that the photographer would not expect everyone to scrutinise such an incredible image. In short it appears to be a trained wolf jumping over a gate in its enclosure!"