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Prize Winning Picture Used a Rented Wolf
The winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, Jose Luis Rodriguez, has been stripped of his award for hiring a ringer. Officials allege that the wolf in the picture is none other than Ossian, a tame wolf that lives at a zoological park. Using a tame animal is a violation of the contest rules. Wildlife photographer and competition judge, Mark Carwardine, said, "You can see several very distinctive markings and the experts all agreed that, yes, it's the same wolf. We disqualified [Mr Rodriguez] and banned him for life from entering the competition again, so I think that sends a strong message." I'm surprise I haven't found a "three wolves jumping the fence" meme yet.
This world needs to learn some forgiveness. I understand that the judges and other competitors must have felt cheated -- and rightfully so -- but a lifetime ban is just pure vengeance and no logic. Five or ten-year ban? Sure. Being banned from participating in a prestigious contest for which you have a passion for 20% or more of your life (perhaps 30% of your working life) is still quite a punishment. Banning someone for life is just making an example for example's sake.
Excuse me while I stray a little off-topic here with an extreme analogy: it's like how someone who was caught with half-an-ounce of weed ten years ago can't get certain jobs, can't cross some international borders, etc. It needs to stop. There needs to be an international statute of limitations on how long you can hold a minor offense over someone's head. A life sentence only makes sense when the offender's actions have taken someone else's life.
Case in point: stop giving people life-long punishments for minor offenses just to make examples of them.
He's not going to jail. He isn't prevented from working. He is merely banned from a competition that holds (relatively) little consequence for showing he had absolutely no respect for the purpose and intent of it. Compare this to olympic bans and being stripped of medals. Some bans are only a few years, but if you go beyond just "screwing up" you can lose all the medals earned to date.
If you want to whine about over-punishment, look at the US criminal justice system where reform is no longer part of the system; it's all about punishment and determent even if it means ruining a teen's life for a victimless crime.
Jose Luis Rodriguez is the Hitler of spontaneous wildlife photography.
I'd say his wildlife photography career has jumped the shark...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.