Mr Carwardine explained that he and his fellow judges had gathered evidence and sought the opinions of wolf experts in order to reach their decision.

The experts compared the winning picture to pictures of Ossian, a tame wolf that lives at a zoological park near Madrid called Canada Real.

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

"We disqualified [Mr Rodriguez] and banned him for life from entering the competition again, so I think that sends a strong message."

Mr Carwardine added that Mr Rodruiguez had, throughout the investigation, denied "hiring" Ossian for the photograph. The disqualified photographer maintains that his subject was a wild wolf.

Oh dear - I think this is now the third thread mentioning this (Two were created by the same person!)

Clicky

Seems too good to be true to me too. Wolves are pack animals with an acute sense of smell - they'd be onto him in their numbers or they'd be staying the hell away I'm sure. Mind you, I'm no wolf expert.

He wasn't stood there taking the picture, was he? Wasn't it done with a remote trip (allegedly)?
Genuine question.

One thing to be said though, whether it was a cheated shot with a tame wolf or not, it's still a cracking photo.

As I said in another thread, that's the saddest thing about it. The photo's been tarnished, in effect.

It was just entered into the wrong competition; it was meant for the Tamelife Photographer of the Year
were it would be a good picture again.

and think of the negatives.

Wasn't it shot on digital?