Sign this petition for a rule change to include a ban on ALL baited images from submission to this illustrious competition and hopefully all others too. 

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Fellow fans of wildlife photography,

We hope you will agree that as wildlife photographers we are morally obligated to have as little impact on our subjects. We should therefore not interfere with their day-to-day existence wherever possible and we certainly shouldn't bait an animal to get a shot.

This year's competition and exhibition features an entry which has been baited with a carcass in the People's Choice competition (see entry here). As it is not LIVE bait it has been allowed in - (This is currently acceptable in their rules about ethics. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/wpy/competition/adult-competition/rules.html).

It is noted that the photographer, Bence Mate, has declared that he used a dead bait at a private game reserve in the process of getting the shot which is included in the content of the caption attached to the image.

The image can be seen here on the People's Choice award on the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year website. 

This rule needs to be changed to ban ALL baited images whether the bait used was LIVE or DEAD in the process of taking the shot. Only then we hope will people be deterred from baiting animals in the hope of getting a winning shot.

Sign this petition for a rule change to include a ban on ALL baited images from submission to this illustrious competition and hopefully all others too.