Famous "Storybook Wolf" photo disqualified.

[coyoty]

The winning photo "Storybook wolf" by José Luis Rodríguez has been disqualified by the judges of a BBC wildlife photo competition due to evidence that it was staged in violation of the contest's rules.  The photographer claimed that he had taken the photo on a Spanish estate, and that he had coaxed a wild Iberian wolf to jump a fence there, but other Spanish photographers with ethical concerns supplied photographic evidence to the contrary.  It appears that both the wolf and the location are from the Cañada Real Center, a Madrid zoological park.  The wolf has a remarkable resemblance to a park wolf named Ossian, and the fence appears to have been a temporary setup on a location in the park.  The disputing photos corroborate critics' suspicions that the entry had been contrived because of how the photo is composed.  The contest's rules state that ”Images of captive animals must be declared. The judges will take preference to images taken in free and wild conditions.”  After looking at the comparisons between the entry and the disputing photos, I agree that it's the same wolf and park location.

MSNBC story.
Suomen Luonto story.