The most touching photo from the best works of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest

The prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is held annually at the Natural History Museum in London. In 2017, the jury reviewed the works of more than 50,000 participants from all over the world. The winner in the nomination "Audience Award" was a photographer from Canada Joanne MacArthur. It is impossible to remain indifferent, looking at her touching picture, in which a little gorilla named Pikin hugs her savior Appoliner Ndohuda.

Source: Daily Mail

Photojournalist Joanne MacArthur has been studying the plight of animals on all continents for 10 years. Thanks to her efforts, a large-scale project called "We are animals" appeared, the purpose of which was the desire to draw attention to the problem of abuse of our younger brothers. For this, Joanne MacArthur traveled to forty countries of the world, in each of which she filmed the interaction of people and animals.

The picture "Pikin and Appoliner", which received the "Audience Award", was taken in Cameroon. Appoliner Ndohudu is an employee of the charitable non—profit organization Ape Action Africa, which is engaged in protecting the population of gorillas and chimpanzees in West Africa, who are on the verge of extinction due to the spread of illegal trade in their meat. An appoliner bought a baby western plains gorilla named Pikin from people who were going to sell the baby to butchers. Then the savior took Pikin to a nature reserve in Cameroon, where he now lives with his relatives.

Joanne hopes that thanks to her photographs, people will understand that animals are not only fur, meat or an element of the interior, but also living beings who also experience pain and fear.

Next, you can look at other photos of the finalists of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 contest.

Pool Party: Liliana Lovebirds' water treatments in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. Photo: Luke Macy, UK.

Beautiful mother and child: humpback whales near Vavau Island, Tonga. Photo: Ray Chin, Taiwan.

A three-toed sloth on a branch in the rainforest of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Photo: Luciano Candisani, Brazil.

The rider. This picture of a blue lark on a zebra was taken during a safari in the Maasai Mara Nature Reserve, Kenya. Photo: Lakshitha Karunarathna, Sri Lanka.

Warm hugs. The photographer spent 6 days in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada, at a temperature of -55 °C to capture this touching moment. Photo: Debra Garside.

Cleaning time: moonfish surrounded by sponges, Mediterranean Sea, Spain. Photo: Jordi Chias Pujol, Spain.

Lie down and relax. Mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Photo: Alan Chang, USA.

A drink at night: zebras at a watering hole during a drought, a private nature reserve in South Africa. Photo: Charl Senekal, South Africa.

Hammerhead shark off the coast of Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Photo: Adriana Barkes.

Beauty and the Beast: Insects in Bad Alexandersbad, Bavaria, Germany. Photo: Eva Hausner, Germany.

The dark side of the Plains: the frame was taken as a result of a 6-day photo hunt in the Maasai Mara Nature Reserve, Kenya. Photo: Uri Goldman, Denmark.

Soar to the skies: Pink spoonbill in Tampa Bay, Florida. Photo: Stephen Baldwin, USA.

The land of snow and ice: a polar bear on the island of Svalbard, Norway. Photo: Josh Enon, USA.

Palm: A photographer caught a touching moment of communication between an orangutan and a cub on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Photo: Jamie Tarris, UK.

A white owl in Delta, British Columbia. Photo: Connor Stephanison, Canada.

Comfortably settled. The photographer took this picture in Anchorage, Alaska. Locals know this moose well, which is nicknamed the Hook. Photo: Ryan Miller, USA.

"What are you looking at?" An owl in Kgalagadi Park, South Africa. Photo: Jan Kolbe, South Africa.

Leopard's Eye: The photographer took this picture during a three-week stay in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Photo: Martin Van Lokven, Netherlands.

The ranger's hand is covered in the blood of an African elephant. Poachers killed the animal for the tusks, which were then hidden in Zululand, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

Brothers. Cubs on the Kuril Lake, Kamchatka. Photo: Marco Urso, Italy.