2012: The Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species - Winner
Kim Wolhuter (South Africa)
Dog days
Kim has been filming African wild dogs at Zimbabwe’s Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve for more than four years. He knows one pack intimately. ‘I have travelled with them, on foot, in the pack itself, running with them as they hunt. It’s a privilege, and it’s given me a true insight into their life.’ Kim has also witnessed first hand the many threats that have made African wild dogs endangered, including increased conflict with humans and domestic animals (poachers’ snares, habitat loss, traffic and disease). ‘At times, it’s heart-wrenching,’ he says. ‘My mission is to dispel the myth that they’re a threat and help raise awareness of their plight.’ African wild dogs require huge territories, and so protecting them can protect entire ecosystems. When this picture was taken, the pack had travelled four kilometres to the Sosigi Pan, only to find it totally dried up. ‘The mosaic of mud seemed to epitomise the increasingly fragmented world this puppy is growing up in.’
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II + 70-200mm f2.8 lens at 75mm; 1/160 sec at f4; ISO 200.
View other winners in this category
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Runner-up Last wild picture Steve Winter
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Specially Commended Fly-by drinking Ofer Levy
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Commended Treading water Charlie Hamilton James
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Commended Leaping lemur Heinrich van den Berg
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Commended The great escape Yves Adams
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