Official out after photo outrage

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

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said in a statement that he asked for and accepted Blake Fischer’s resignation on 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.

Fischer and his wife shot at least 14 animals in Namibia according to the photos and descriptions in an email he sent to more than 100 recipients.

The baboon family photo showed blood visible on the abdomen of the smallest baboon, its head lolling back to rest on the chest of one of the dead adult baboons. Fischer killed them using a bow and arrows, visible in the bottom of the picture.

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.

“I have high expectations and standards for every appointee in state government,” Otter said. “Every member of my administration is expected to exercise good judgment. Commissioner Fischer did not.”

Fischer didn’t apologize for killing the baboons but said in his resignation to Otter that he “recently made some poor judgments that resulted in sharing photos of a hunt in which I did not display an appropriate level of sportsmanship and respect for the animals I harvested.”

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