Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner asked to resign after hunting photos surface
Warning graphic content: An Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner is asked to resign after hunting photos appear online. Blake Fischer reportedly sent photos to friends and co-workers from his hunting trip in Africa, which included a picture of him standing over a “family of baboons” he killed.
WARNING: Article contains graphic photo.
One of Idaho’s current fish and game commissioners is being asked to issue his resignation after photos from his hunting trip in Africa – which include a picture of him standing over a “family of baboons” he killed – appeared online.
Blake Fischer, one of seven unpaid fish and game commissioners in Idaho, had reportedly sent the photos to friends and co-workers along with descriptions of the 14 animals he and his wife had shot in Namibia, according to The Idaho Statesman.
"First day she wanted to watch me, and 'get a feel' of Africa," Fischer reportedly wrote, according to an email obtained via a public records request from the Boise’s KBOI and the Statesman. "So I shot a whole family of baboons."
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Fischer had also boasted of shooting several other species of animals, including a leopard, a giraffe, an impala and several others.
The commissioner has since defended his actions, saying nothing he did was illegal, but colleagues, including former fish and game commissioners, are asking him to resign nevertheless.
“I’m sure what you did was legal, however, legal does not make it right,” wrote Frank Trevey, a former fish and game warden, in an email obtained via a public records request.
Trevey specifically viewed Fischer’s killing of the baboon family as being unsportsmanlike. At least two other former fish and game hunters agreed, with one calling for Fischer’s resignation and the other requesting a public apology.
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Fischer, meanwhile, has apologized for emailing the graphic photos — unsolicited — to over 100 people, but not for his actions.
“I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t do anything unethical. I didn’t do anything immoral,” Fischer responded, according to the Statesman. Fischer further said that, like in Idaho, hunters manage the animal population in Africa, and that he had paid a trophy fee to hunt certain species, all legally.
Another former commissioner, Will Naillon, called Fischer an “ethical hunter.”
But his actions didn’t sit well with Steve Adler, another Idaho hunting advocate who spoke to the Statesman about Fischer’s baboon photo, in particular.
“You just don’t do that,” he said. “I hate wolves as much as anyone, but I’m not going to take a wolf family and put it on display and show the baby wolf.”
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A representative for Idaho Governor Butch Otter – who is said to be “concerned” according to a spokesperson, per the Statesman – was not immediately available to comment for Fox News.
Blake Fischer is in his second term as a fish and game commissioner for Idaho, The Washington Post added. He is slated to serve until 2022, pending a confirmation following his reappointment in 2018.