Andy, they're a company that fill oil tanks in people's gardens. How many Photos of whales do you think they'll use?? Their website shows no animals whatsoever and I very much doubt a rights grab is what this is about.
I think they might just be a little bit bigger than that!
The first thing you see when you visit their web site is a picture of a Lizard (or whatever it is) which fits in beautifully with their corporate colours.
It is a rights grab, read the rules, whether these rules have been made up naively or intentionally I do not know. But certainly tossing somebody a kindle for endless photos, competition after competition, that they can make full use of and possibly even sell on is very good value for Tate Oil.
You know it's not that hard to write the rules such that the copyright of the photographers is both respected and protected (they could even offer a decent prize which would be nice) and they would still be able to use the winning images in connection with the competitions on their web site - which makes me ask - why the full rights grab. Are they naive and ignorant of copyright or taking advantage naive photographers in order to build an image bank for their business. I don't know, but I do know I want nothing to do with it.