One of the best things about having pets is how many laughs they bring. The Comedy Pet Photography Awards celebrates this fact with its annual competition, and this year there are 30 finalists to brighten up your day.
Founded by the same folks who came up with the idea for the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, the Comedy Pet Photography Awards hopes to make people smile with funny pet pics and encourage them to support small grassroots animal welfare charities.
This year's shortlist is fantastic and includes an exhausted donkey, some naughty kittens, and more than one enthusiastically leaping dog. Entries hail from all over the world, including Singapore, the USA, Canada, and China, but Japan and the UK have the most with eight each.
Sylvia Michel's photograph is a definite standout. Named Everybody is kung-fu fighting, it features a playful dog who appears to be throwing some mad martial arts moves in the snow.
We're not sure what exactly is going on with Cat in a trap by Kenichi Morinaga, nor how it got there, but would like to think that the adventurous feline managed to remove its head... eventually.
What am I thinking? by David Kertzman captures an optical illusion of an apparently headless horse standing in a field – don't worry though, no animals were harmed in the making of this photo.
"The images were chosen for their photographic quality as well as their comedic value and are now subject to some serious scrutiny from the judges who are all expert animal lovers to pick the winner," explains the awards' press release. " The panel includes TV presenter, writer, conservationist and animal lover Kate Humble, professional photographer and nature lover Gerrard Gethings and his son Jarvis Gethings, plus Barry the Border Terrier, for balance. TV Vet and animal welfare campaigner Emma Milne and our very own professional pet photographer and former competition winner Elke Vogelsang."
The awards' judges will now get together and decide a winner, who will be announced on June 6. Whoever it is will receive prize money of £500 (roughly US$630) and a Think Tank camera bag for their effort.
Until then, head to the gallery to see each one of the 30 pet photographs, along with a short description provided by the owner.
Source: Comedy Pet Photography Awards