Grand prize winner: environmental photographer of the year 2023; also 1st place in the humanity v nature category; and winner of the 2023 public award. Lopé national park, Gabon, 2021. An angry elephant tries to defend itself after it was hit by a train that crosses paths the animals use within Lopé national park. Park officials decided the elephant was too severely injured to be saved. After it was killed, the park director distributed the meat to local people. As the forest loses its carrying capacity to sustain its megafauna, this kind of human-wildlife conflict is increasing. (Photo by Jasper Doest/Environmental Photography Award)

“Most cats run away at the first sign of water but this jaguar shows that some just love to make a splash. The fierce-looking feline was spotted doing an impressive moggy paddle as it swam for meat at Taman Safari in Indonesia. The spectacular shots were captured by professional photographer, Erfin Nugroho, who was visiting the centre for endangered animals with his family”. – Richard Hartley-Parkinson. (Photo by Erfin Nugroho/Caters News)

An alligator is skinned at All American Gator August 16, 2006 in Pembroke Park, Florida. The company processes gators for their skins, meat and trophies and was at full capacity a day after the start of gator hunting season. This year more than 4,000 licenses were sold with each license allowing hunters to kill two gators. The hunt has been expanded by 41 days over previous years, running August 15 to November 1. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

More than 1,500 snappers submitted their most hilarious pictures of all creatures great and small, and now 45 have made the cut. From drunken-eyed owls to embarrassed chipmunks and laughing goats – the finalists in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are guaranteed to raise a smile. Here: 'Dancing sifaka'. (Photo by Alison Buttigieg/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards/Mercury Press)

A rooster bred for its all black appearance walks through the yard of a small backyard farm on February 3, 2017 on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia. The roosters, called Ayam Cemani, are completely black including their bones and meat and are often sold for use in rituals. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty Images)

Pensioner Karl Szmolinsky, who raises a breed of rabbits called giant grays, shows Robert 2, an 8.5kg giant grey who is 74cm long and has ears 25.5cm long, in the backyard of his house on January 15, 2006 in Eberswalde, Germany. In November Szmolinsky sold eight giant greys to a delegation from North Korea, whom he said want to raise the breed as a source of meat for the North Korean population. Szmolinsky said his rabbits reach a maximum weight of 10.5 kg (23.1lbs.). (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A participant tries to tie a steer during the Russian Rodeo in the village of Kotliakovo, Bryansk region, southeast of Moscow, Russia, September 12, 2015. The competition was organised by privately held Miratorg, one of the leading Russia's meat producers, between the divisions of the agricultural holding. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Devotees of the Chinese Jui Tui shrine are seen with spikes piercing their cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand in this October 19, 2015 combination photo. The festival, featuring face-piercing, sacrifice, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)