I’m honored to have been awarded First Place in the prestigious BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition (Human/Nature). I’m humbled by the other photographers that were recognized this year. Thank you to the California Academy of Sciences and the esteemed judges for recognizing my photograph.
This image is a composition of more than 200 animals that were attacked by domestic cats and brought to WildCare (San Rafael, CA) and did not survive their injuries. The bodies were collected and preserved for one calendar year.
Each year house cats kill more than 2 *billion* birds in the United States alone, in addition to mammals, reptiles, and other animals.
Thank you to WildCare: Melanie Piazza (Director of Animal Care) and Alison Hermance (Director of Communications and Marketing) were the driving force behind this project.
It was a challenge to envision something somber, dignified, truthful, and not causing revulsion. I also wanted to honor the difficult work of wildlife rescue and WildCare’s hospital staff.
Conservation starts in our own backyard with the choices we make about our pets, fences, plants, and feeders. I hope this photograph will encourage dialog about how our choices impact the animals around us.
Here’s a comment on the original post which I found interesting as well, the rehabber states in a later comment she suspects the reason so few bats are pictured is because “many cat caught bats don’t make it to a rehab center.”
I’d also like to clarify I didn’t share this comment as a dig at OP or WildCare, I just think bats are unfortunately overlooked in this conversation and I thought seeing the input from a rehabber specializing in bats was interesting.
