Award-Winning Photos Reveal Asia's Animal Trade

Each year, for the past 46 years, London's Natural History Museum has teamed up with BBC Wildlife Magazine to award the world's best nature photography. Last week, winners were announced in all traditional categories — and in a new category: wildlife photojournalist of the year. It went to Mark Leong for his series, "It's Just An Animal," which gives a haunting picture of illegal wildlife trade in Asia. The six submitted photos are excerpted from a longer story in National Geographic's January issue.

^{Advisory: Some of these photographs are not suitable for all audiences.}

The contest website says:

^{"Mark's reportage captures the ignorance, apathy, corruption and cruelty that sustain this multi-billion-dollar industry. 'The hardest challenge conservation bodies face', [Leong] says, 'is the widespread "its only an animal" mindset that so many people have.' "}

See more photos on National Geographic's website.