The Vulture and the Little Girl
Pulitzer-winning photo of a starving child stalked by a vulture.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
The Vulture and the Little Girl, also called The Struggling Girl, is a photograph taken by Kevin Carter. It was first published in The New York Times on March 26, 1993. The image shows a starving child, very thin and weak, lying on the ground in the foreground. A hooded vulture stands nearby, watching the child. Until 2011, the child was thought to be a girl, but was later identified as a boy. The picture won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994. It became a well-known and controversial image of famine in Sudan.
In the early 1990s, relief organizations called the area around the southern Sudan communities of Kongor, Ayod, and Waat the Hunger Triangle. The region relied on UNESCO and other aid groups to fight famine. By January 1993, forty percent of children under five in the area were malnourished. In Ayod alone, an estimated 10 to 13 adults died of starvation each day. To draw attention to the crisis, Operation Lifeline Sudan invited photojournalists, who had previously been barred from entering the country, to report on conditions. In March 1993, the government began issuing visas to journalists, but only for 24-hour stays with strict limits on travel and constant government supervision.
Robert Hadley, a former photographer and then information officer for the UN Operation Lifeline Sudan, invited João Silva and Kevin Carter to Sudan in March 1993 to report on the famine in the south. They would travel with the rebels. Silva saw it as a chance to work more as a war photographer. He arranged the trip and secured assignments to cover expenses. He told Carter about the offer, and Carter was interested. According to fellow war photographer Greg Marinovich, Carter saw the trip as a way to fix some problems he felt trapped in. Taking photos in Sudan was an opportunity for a better freelance career, and Carter was reportedly motivated and enthusiastic. He got money from the Associated Press and others to pay for the travel.
Silva and Carter stopped in Nairobi on their way to Sudan. New fighting forced them to wait there for an unspecified time. Carter flew with the UN for one day to Juba in south Sudan to photograph a barge carrying food aid. Soon the situation changed again. The UN got permission from a rebel group to fly food aid to Ayod. Rob Hadley was flying in on a UN light plane and invited Silva and Carter to join him.
The next day, their
- photographer
- Kevin Carter
- year_taken
- 1993
- first_published
- March 26, 1993
- publication
- The New York Times
- award
- Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (1994)
- subject
- Famine-stricken boy (mistakenly thought to be a girl until 2011)
- location
- Ayod, Sudan (now South Sudan)
Lore & Background
In March 1993, photojournalists João Silva and Kevin Carter were invited by Robert Hadley of the UN Operation Lifeline Sudan to report on the famine in southern Sudan. They flew to Ayod, where villagers gathered for food aid. Carter photographed a child collapsed on the ground, with a vulture perched behind. He later told Silva he had chased the vulture away. The child, later identified as Kong Nyong, reportedly survived the incident and died of fevers around 2007.
The photo was published in The New York Times on March 26, 1993, causing a sensation. It was used in fundraising posters and prompted public donations to aid organizations. Due to reader questions, the Times ran a special editorial on March 30, 1993, stating the photographer reported the child recovered enough to resume walking after the vulture was chased away. The image won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994. Four months later, Carter died by suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning at age 33.
Reader's Guide
The Vulture and the Little Girl remains one of the most debated photographs of the 20th century, illustrating both the power of photojournalism to galvanize humanitarian response and the ethical burdens placed on photographers. The image forced viewers to confront the reality of famine in Sudan, where 40% of children under five were malnourished and 10 to 13 adults died daily in Ayod alone. Its publication spurred immediate donations to aid organizations. However, the photograph also sparked criticism about voyeurism and the photographer's role, a tension captured by Susan Sontag's observation that only those who can alleviate suffering—or learn from it—have the right to look at such horrors. The child's misidentification as a girl until 2011, and the revelation that he died years later from fevers, adds layers of complexity to the image's legacy. Carter's suicide four months after winning the Pulitzer underscores the psychological toll of documenting extreme suffering, as noted by Desmond Tutu, who wrote of the cost of being traumatized that drove some to suicide.
Did You Know?
- The child in the photograph was mistakenly believed to be a girl until 2011, when his father revealed he was a boy named Kong Nyong.
- Kong Nyong died around 2007 of 'fevers,' according to his family.
- Kevin Carter died by suicide four months after winning the Pulitzer Prize for this photograph.
- The New York Times published a special editorial on March 30, 1993, to address public concern about the child's fate.
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