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STRICTLY EMBARGOED until 2300 BST Tuesday 17 October 2017 ONLY TO BE USED WITH COMPETITION World Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 Memorial to a species: Brent Stirton, South Africa Grand title winner 2017 (Also winner of The Wildlife Photojournalist Award: Story category) HLUHLUWE UMFOLOZI GAME RESERVE, KWAZULU NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA, 17 MAY 2016: A Black Rhino Bull is seen dead, poached for its horns less than 24 hours earlier at Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa. It is suspected that the killers came from a local community approximately 5 kilometers away, entering the park illegally, shooting the rhino at a water hole with a high-powered, silenced hunting rifle. An autopsy and postmortem carried out by members of the KZN Ezemvelo later revealed that the large calibre bullet went straight through this rhino, causing massive tissue damage. It was noted that he did not die immediately but ran a short distance, fell to his knees and a coup de grace shot was administered to the head from close range. Black Rhino are the most endangered rhino, HluHluwe Umfolozi is one of the last repositories for these animals, with less than 3000 left in the wild today. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic Magazine.) Press Image : Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum. Email: wildpress@nhm.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5156 Mob: +44 (0)7799 690151

Rhino without its horn wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year prize

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The prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has been handed to a photojournalist who captured a criticially endangered black rhino lying dead with its horn cut off. Brent Stirton’s “Memorial to a species” was taken on South Africa’s Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve and is one of thirty such scenes he captured as he covered the story of the animal’s decline. Black rhinos are now critically endangered due to hunting, with around 5,000 remaining in the wild. Once more numerous than the white rhino, the species has faced renewed poaching in recent years despite conservation efforts. The animal is now largely confined to four countries – South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya – after another one subspecies, the West African black rhino, became extinct in 2011.

Nat Geo Wrote on their Instagram Account :

 

Poachers killed this black rhinocerous for its horn with high-caliber bullets at a water hole in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. They entered the park illegally, likely from a nearby village, and are thought to have used a silenced hunting rifle. Once the most numerous rhino species, black rhinos are now critically endangered due to poaching and the illegal international trade in rhino horn, one of the world’s most corrupt illegal wildlife networks.

@brentstirton was awarded the prestigious @nhm_wpy Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 title for this compelling image taken on assignment for @natgeo. Brent’s image will be on display with other images selected by an international panel of judges at the 53rd Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the @natural_history_museum in London. #WPY53[paypal_donation_button]

Harsh Vardhan

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