A Wolf in…Wolf’s Clothing?

(PHOTO: Jose Luis Rodriguez)

Look! It’s the prizewinning entry in the BBC Wildlife Magazine and London’s Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Neat, huh? It’s an awesome photo of an Iberian gray wolf leaping towards its prey! Nature! Wildness! Caught in action! The judges were thrilled!

Oh, snap. Turns out it was all a con. (Probably.)

In a shocking update released today, the photo has been officially disqualified and stripped of its award after the judging panel decided the wolf shown in it was probably a trained hired model, not a wild animal. According to the BBC, “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,” before coming to the conclusion that they’d been duped.

The shocking revelation can be found here; the original story about the win is here. The photographer (who had previously explained that the photo was the result of years of planning and even design sketches—somehow this did not catch anyone’s attention) denies any chicanery.