Suspecting that the wolf used is a tame one from a zoo near Madrid and the setting the Canada Real Centre Zoological Park, also near Madrid, he Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine stripped the reigning 'Wildlife Photographer of the Year' of his title yesterday:
"Louise Emerson, from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition office, said today: 'It saddens us to confirm that after a careful and thorough investigation into the image, the storybook wolf, the co-owners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine have disqualified the winning entry of the photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez. The judging panel was reconvened and concluded that it was likely that the wolf featured in the image was an animal model that can be hired for photographic purposes and, as a result, that the image had been entered in breach of Rule 10 of the Competition. 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.'"
More wolf models, AFTER THE JUMP…