Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Baby gorilla embraces man who rescued her from bushmeat market

A lowland gorilla, saved from a bushmeat market, rests drowsily in the arms of the man who helped rescue her.

An image of that scene, "Pikin and Appolinaire" by Jo-Anne McArthur, won the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year's People's Choice Award presented by London's Natural History Museum.

Pinkin, the gorilla, awoke after being sedated on a drive in Cameroon alongside Appolinaire Ndohoudou, a worker with Ape Action Africa. The nonprofit works to save gorillas like Pinkin from bush meat markets, where butchered animals such as apes, elephants and antelopes are sold as food.

Poachers captured Pikin and removed her from her habitat before she found herself safe with Ape Action Africa. Appolinaire, who once fled Chad for Cameroon after a civil war, now helps raise gorillas like Pikin.

"I regularly document the cruelties animals endure at our hands, but sometimes I bear witness to stories of rescue, hope and redemption," McArthur, the photographer, said. Such is the case with the story of Pikin and Appolinaire, a beautiful moment between friends."

As a complementary award to Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the People's Choice award honors outstanding nature photography as decided by the public.

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

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