Our hilarious pets’ antics never get old. This opens the door for endless comedic photography opportunities.
It’s not always convenient for everyone to just pack up their cameras and fly off to South Africa to snap pachyderms on safari, or to jungles in West Asia to photograph big cats. But there’s a pretty good chance anyone with a camera and a pet can capture a shot of their furry, feathery, or scaly animal friend at home.
Pets offer limitless comedy relief for their owners, wherever they may reside in the world. The Comedy Pet Photography Awards (CPPA) competition was created with that in mind: As wildlife photography might be less than accessible to many around the globe, they may still share hilarious photos of their pets for the whole internet to chuckle at and to make people’s day.
Meanwhile, the competition’s founders also expressed their aim to “bang the drum as loud as we can for animal welfare and make sure it is at the heart of what we do.” Respecting the dignity of domesticated animals, they set up some rules to ensure none were demeaned in the picture production. “Remember everyone, no clothes, hats or glasses on any pets or domestic creatures please and always be aware of how you are treating your pet, it is so so important to take great care of them, thank you,” they say on their website.
"Brought Max to the lake and caught him just out of the water with an amazing shake off. His face looks like a hedgehog." Courtesy of Alessandro Po/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
Sifting through oodles of pet images that were sent in, the judges—tummies still sore from laughing presumably—whittled them down to 26 finalists for this year’s CPPA. They feature all manner of animal antics: a llama appearing to mull while contemplatively gnawing a twig; a shaggy dog that looks a lot like its owner; a horse in a stable loving on a pair of young lasses showing him some attention; a (seemingly) super-intelligent cat carefully pondering its next move in a game of chess; a feline with a diabolical look in its eye, as if plotting world domination; and pets popping up in places you'd least expect.
These hilarious moments are chock full of shaggy, tongued, toothed hilarity and pure, furry love—some of the most laughable pet moments one could ask for. So, without further ado, here’s the shortlist of the 2022 Comedy Pet Photography Awards:
"We had gone out for the day and came home to find our kitten Jack had got stuck in the hedge!" Courtesy of Freya Sharpe/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Popcorn is a rather shy dog and keeps looking away from the camera. Had to shoot a lot to get some usable ones and of course bloopers included." Courtesy of Bernard Sim/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Nilo is an adopted puppy about 10 months old. He was hit by a car and was barely saved. Now recovered, he has just discovered water for the first time. His capers and pirouettes show his passion for water. Love at first sight." Courtesy of Jose Bayon/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"She is my lovely kitty that is rescued from my local cat care facility. This is just a door continued to a corridor. Sometimes she jump up and holds a door so that maybe she is too desperate to go out." Courtesy of Kazutoshi Ono/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"He is my lovely kitty that is rescued from my local cat care facility. I wanted to create some Japanese image with my kitty so that I made him jumping behind a hanging scroll using a cat toys. It reminds me that there is a famous Japanese story 'Tiger is popping out folding screen’" Courtesy of Kazutoshi Ono/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Cats are bumped on the wall suddenly. It was like a cartoon 'bamped boom boom.' So funny moment." Courtesy of Kenichi Morinaga/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"I gotta smart phone so I want to upload my pics for my SNS. But I don't know how to use it. Please someone tell me how to use it." Courtesy of Kenichi Morinaga/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Benji was determined to be the one to get all the yummy treats during his photo shoot even if it meant stopping his older brother Doug." Courtesy of Lucy Sellors-Duval/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"The situation I encountered at traffic lights. At first I thought it was really like using a dog!" Courtesy of Mehmet Aslan/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"While we were in Canada over Christmas it snowed quite heavily. Our Grandson' Bowen's dog, Oscar, loved running around in the snow and when Bowen jumped on a piece of plastic to slide down the hill, Oscar bounded after him and jumped on his back." Courtesy of Neville Tait/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"A moment which I will me forever of a wonderful friendship of our family members." Courtesy of Peter Cech/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Rosie was helping me in the greenhouse and decided to try, in her most engaging way, (and with the help of the wheelbarrow to stand on), to persuade me into giving her some of her favorite treats—which, being a lowly cat servant with no willpower, I did!" Courtesy of Sarah Fiona Helme/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"This is Fibunacci. Is he praying? Laughing? Blowing a raspberry? Actually, he's just cleaning his ears! He always wants to make sure he's looking his best." Courtesy of Sarah von Keitz/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Goose runs across the meadow, eats and chatters, in the right moment, at the right moment, it looked like she was speaking to me." Courtesy of Stefan Brusius/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"This is Star playing in the snow in a local field and getting surprised by a passing tennis ball." Courtesy of Christopher Johnson/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"This is Penny doing an impression of Sid the Sloth from the 'Ice Age' movies." Courtesy of Holly Stranks/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"During the early days of COVID, David and I took advantage of a beautiful day and we were out shooting pictures. Dudley was so excited when we got back that he threw his front paws around David's shoulders and I snapped this picture. They both look like they could use a good haircut, but it was Covid ... so who cares ..." Courtesy of Judy Nussenblatt/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Our cat Lissi, who died 9 years ago, at the dining table." Courtesy of Karl Goldhamer/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
"Carter was on a Euth list in California. We flew from Chicago to Cali rescue him. This was his first time experiencing snow. As you can see he could believe was missing out all these years!" Courtesy of Marko Jovanovic/Animal Friends Comedy Pets
Epoch Inspired staff cover stories of hope that celebrate kindness, traditions, and triumph of the human spirit, offering valuable insights into life, culture, family and community, and nature.
