Wildlife Photography Award Goes to Puma Conservation Shot

A powerful image of a puma in Argentina earns top honors in the 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

Updated on Oct. 31, 2026 in Wildlife

Gouache-painted editorial illustration of a lone puma on a rocky outcrop, evoking the wild character of the Patagonian landscape. — Photographer Francisco Negroni has won the 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for his striking image of a Patagonian puma. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Photographer Francisco Negroni has won the photojournalism category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 competition with his image, Warning Sign. The photograph, which documents a puma in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz, will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.

Why it matters

This award highlights global environmental issues through a lens of human-wildlife conflict, shedding light on the effectiveness of local conservation laws. The image underscores the ongoing challenges of enforcing wildlife protections in rural regions.

The winning image was captured in Santa Cruz, a province that banned puma hunting in 2025. The exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London will display the work from October 16, 2026, until July 11, 2027.

The players

Francisco Negroni

An award-winning photographer who documented illegal wildlife activities in Argentina.

Natural History Museum

A world-renowned London institution that hosts the prestigious annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

The details

Francisco Negroni utilized a Canon EOS R5 camera equipped with a Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens to capture the scene. To document the subject, he employed a focal length of 70mm with an aperture of f/3.2, a shutter speed of 1/640 second, and an ISO setting of 100.

Santa Cruz implemented a ban on the hunting of pumas in 2025.
The exhibition of winning photographs opens at the Natural History Museum on October 16, 2026.
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition runs until July 11, 2027.

The Home Front

This recognition aligns with the long-standing efforts of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition to bring international conservation issues to the public eye. It reinforces a growing global trend of using award-winning imagery to monitor and support regional wildlife protection laws.

Families interested in wildlife conservation can plan a visit to the London exhibition to see these works in person. Viewers at home should consider how local photography can serve as a vital tool for documenting and reporting environmental issues in their own regions.

The takeaway

Wildlife photography serves as a powerful record of how local legislative changes, like the 2025 puma hunting ban in Santa Cruz, translate to real-world outcomes. You can support local wildlife by familiarizing yourself with regional protected species lists and reporting suspicious activity to local authorities.