Vegan photojournalist, author and educator Jo-Anne McArthur has won a major photography prize.
Almost 20,000 people voted for the picture, which was picked for a shortlist of 24, out of almost 50,000 entries.
Her winning image – which scooped the Wildlife Photographer of the Year – People’s Choice Award – shows Pikin, a lowland gorilla who was rescued from poachers by Ape Action Africa.
Her caretaker, Appolinaire Ndohoudou, holds her as she is transported from an enclosure, within a safe forest sanctuary in Cameroon, to a new larger one.
Thankful
McArthur said: “I’m so thankful that this image resonated with people and I hope it might inspire us all to care a little bit more about animals.
“No act of compassion towards them is ever too small.
“I regularly document the cruelties animals endure at our hands, but sometimes I bear witness to stories of rescue, hope and redemption.”
We Animals
McArthur is the creator of We Animals ‘an ambitious project which documents, through photography, animals in the human environment’.
According to the project: “Humans are as much animal as the sentient beings we use for food, clothing, research, experimentation, work, entertainment, slavery and companionship.
“With this as its premise, We Animals aims to break down the barriers that humans have built which allow us to treat non-human animals as objects and not as beings with moral significance.”
The organization creates images and films, advocating for animals exploited by humans worldwide.