Winning wolf photo disqualified

The winner of a big photo award has been disqualified because the judges said he probably used a tame wolf to 'model' for the picture.

The winning image was taken by photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez, who said he did nothing wrong.

But the Wildlife Photographer of the Year judges said the wolf's markings showed it was actually a tame animal from a zoo near Madrid in Spain.

It is against the competition rules to photograph a tame animal.

Louise Emerson from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition said the wolf in the picture was probably an "animal model" who could be hired for out photos.

One of the competition judges, photographer Mark Carwardine, said the judges compared the winning shot to pictures of Ossian, a tame wolf from the Canada Real zoo in Spain.

He said: "You can see several very distinctive markings and the experts all agreed that, yes, it's the same wolf.

"This is very sad and I think it might make us more suspicious of entries that are too good to be true."

This is the first time that there has not been a winner in the competition's 46 year history.

Mr Rodriquez denied "hiring" Ossian for the photograph and says the star of his picture was a wild wolf.

相关中文新闻：世界野生动物摄影大赛爆丑闻 冠军作品竟是“假照”（摘自凤凰网）

2009年世界野生动物摄影大赛冠军作品假照风波最终裁定结果日前出炉：冠军作品实为假照，西班牙摄影师何塞·路易斯·罗德里格斯的冠军奖项被取消。

当地时间二十日，英国自然历史博物管在其官方网站上发表了一份声明称，世界野生动物摄影大赛主办方英国自然历史博物馆及英国广播公司野生动物杂志共同决定，撤销罗德里格斯的大赛冠军头衔。

2009年，罗德里格斯凭借抓拍一只伊比利亚狼跨越围栏觅食的照片夺得当年世界野生动物摄影大赛冠军。但后来有人指正该狼表情过于温顺，与野生狼有区别，可能为人工饲养。比赛主办方之一的英国自然历史博物馆随即介入展开调查。

英国自然历史博物馆称，在搜集了大量证据以及综合野生动物摄影专家的意见后，照片中的“野生狼”被认定为经过驯养的狼。“图中的狼是专门用来拍摄的‘模特’，这违反了比赛的第十条规则。”

据英国广播公司报道，摄影专家们将参赛作品中的狼与位于马德里附近的一家动物园的驯养狼相比较发现，两只狼有众多相似之处，系为同一只狼。

尽管罗德里格斯一直否认租用动物园的狼进行拍摄，这也未能改变他的命运。野生动物摄影大赛办公室的发言人路易斯·爱默生说:“我们取消了他的冠军资格，并且他再也不能参加这个比赛，希望这次事件能为其他选手敲响警钟。”

一位比赛评委对英国广播公司说，此次比赛是世界野生动物摄影大赛举办四十六年以来，首度没有冠军的比赛。此次假照事件为摄影界带来信任危机，某位比赛评委甚至感叹道:“这太令人悲哀了，以后我们不得不对那些绝世好作品高度警惕。”

英国《卫报》称，罗德里格斯丢失的不仅是冠军头衔，还有一万英镑的冠军奖金。

世界野生动物摄影大赛是世界上规模最大的同类摄影赛事，由英国自然历史博物馆、英国广播公司野生动物杂志共同举办。