Fractious divide between humans and the wild

Grand winner Hell is Here by Biplab Hazra paints a harrowing picture of human-elephant conflict in West Bengal.

The stunning image of a mother elephant and her calf fleeing from human torment through fire was the winner in the 2017 Sanctuary Wildlife Photography Awards.

Biplab Hazra took the photo in West Bengal, India, where human-elephant conflict is common.

The competition drew over 5000 entries from across Asia and is India's longest-running and most prestigious of its kind.

Other winners included a snoozing leopard being observed by a pair of peafowls, a bonnet macaque perched on the tyre of a tourist vehicle, a dead shark ray in a plastic crate and a lucky leopard being rescued by local villagers.

The Sanctuary Nature Foundation was founded in 1981 and is India's leading nature and conservation portal.

Valparai Vagrant by Sitara A. Karthikeyan, won the Young Category: Nature in Urbania. Shrinking habitats bring India's macaques ever closer to humans.

A pair of peafowls warily observe a sleeping leopard in Drishti Hoskote's image Three's a Crowd, Winner of Young Category: Creatures Great and Small.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Anand Bora, Winner of Open Category: Conservation Photography, shows a leopard being rescued from a well.

An Ephemeral Masterpiece by Abhishek Nandkishor Neelam Satam, Winner of Open Category: Art in Nature.

A lifeless shark ray in Last Port of Call by Vishruth Cavale, Sanctuary's Young Photographer of the Year 2017 and Winner of Young Category: Conservation Photography.