I received a very emotional message with photograph on whatsapp. It was a photograph of Impala being held by a group of cheetahs, as per the message the photograph had won the best photograph award because it showed emotion and sacrifice of a mother. The photo allegedly was of a Mother Impala who could have easily escaped cheetahs but instead offered herself to cheetahs in order to save her kids. The message also claimed that she is looking at her babies running safely as she is about to be torn to pieces. Further the message claimed that Alison Buttigieg is the person who clicked the photo and she got so overwhelmed by the incident that she fell into depression.

I also have interests in photography so I decided to get some more information about the photographer Alison Buttigieg. This what I found out –

The photograph was indeed clicked by Alison Buttigieg.

The photo we are talking about had had actually won the Remarkable Award in 2016 Siena International Photo Awards.

Apart from these two things all the claims in the message were fake. The photograph was never of a mother who sacrificed her life for her kids. Nor did the photographer go into any sort of depression due to that photo.

The fact is Alison Buttigieg is a Maltese wildlife photographer residing in Finland. She likes to tap into people’s emotions towards animals, inspire them to learn more about them and take action to conserve wildlife and its habitats. She has won the following awards:

2016 Siena International Photo Awards – Remarkable Award

2015 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – Highly Commended

2013 Share the View – Denver Audobon Competition – Highly Commended

But when she came to know about the fake story doing rounds with her photograph she was disgusted. Too many people tried contacting her asking whether she was depressed photographer. She described the experience as a nightmare and hence she clarified on her Facebook page that the story doing the rounds was fake and she is disappointed by the incident – facebook.com/gepardi/posts/10212438608579521

More photographs of Alison Buttigieg can be seen here – http://www.alisonbuttigieg.com/cheetahkill/

I too hope that after this incident people start to become more careful in forwarding messages on social media as it can cause chaos in life / career of an innocent person.