Wikipedia refuses photographer's request to remove animal selfie because MONKEY took the picture

Nature snapper David Slater was on a trip to Indonesia when an endangered ape grabbed his camera and started snapping away.

All smiles: The infamous monkey selfie

When he looked at the shots, he spotted an incredible selfie of the grinning ape staring right into the camera lense.

He told Mirror Online: "When I saw the picture I was just stunned. It was made even better when the story was picked up and it made thousands of people around the world happy.

"I had letters of congratulations from people as far as Iraq saying I'd made their day."

The pictures went viral in newspapers, websites and magazines across the globe and the Gloucestershire photographer's work was thrust into the internet spotlight.

He originally requested the picture be taken off Wikipedia in 2012 and it was removed.

But then it was re-posted by Tomasz Kozlowski who said that under U.S. law any picture taken by an animal cannot have copyright.

                    

Mr Kozlowski told the Daily Telegraph: “The work did not originate from Mr Slater as by his own admission he did not take the picture, the monkey did. However monkeys can’t and don’t own copyrights.”

The vote is expected to take several days and involves a large group of Wikimedia users. So far 14 have voted to say the image should stay online while four have said it should come down.

He added: "He has never held copyright to this picture. It wouldn't have been famous if it hadn't been taken by the monkey."

But now the picture has cropped up on Wikipedia and his attempts to remove it have so far been unsuccessful.

Mr Slater claims he is facing a £10,000 legal bill because Wikimedia, the organisation behind the site, say he doesn't own the copyright - because the monkey took the picture.

He said: "They have denied my request to take off their site.

"The photograph from 2011 got worldwide coverage because the monkey took it but some claimed because the monkey took the pictures - she owns the copyright.

"It makes me very angry, I'm a professional photographer - it costs me over £2,000 to do the trip. It's my livelihood.

"You take 20,000 shots to get one image that sells, it was potentially a good earner for me, I've lost over £10,000 pounds because of it."