Idaho official quits amid pic outrage

BOISE, Idaho — A top Idaho wildlife official has resigned amid outrage over a photo of him posing with a baboon family he killed during a hunting trip to Africa.

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said in a statement that he had asked for and accepted Blake Fischer’s resignation Monday, three days after the Idaho Statesman newspaper published the first report about a photo of Fischer smiling with four dead baboons propped in front of him.

The photo and others of Fischer and his wife shooting at least 14 animals in Namibia were accompanied by descriptions in an email that Fischer sent to more than 100 recipients. Fischer has said he did nothing illegal, unethical or immoral.

Fischer was one of seven members on the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. Otter appoints commissioners and under Idaho law can also remove them. Otter initially appointed Fischer in 2014 and reappointed him in June to a second four-year-term.

Fischer and his wife during their Africa trip also killed a giraffe, a leopard, an impala, a sable antelope, a waterbuck, a kudu, a warthog, a gemsbok (oryx) and an eland.

Most of the photos with the animals were posed, like typical biggame hunting photos from Idaho and other western U.S. states.

After the baboon photo was made public, at least two former Idaho Fish and Game Commission members to call for Fischer’s resignation.

The commission Fischer served on makes policy decisions about Idaho’s wildlife.