Home Scandal and Gossip Idaho wildlife official Africa baboon killing trip becomes most hated

Idaho wildlife official Africa baboon killing trip becomes most hated

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
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Pictured Commissioner Blake Fischer
Commissioner Blake Fischer
Pictured Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer

Idaho’s Fish and Game Commissioner Blake Fischer baboon hunting moral dilemma: Did a state official in charge of wildlife policy go overboard? 

Idaho’s Fish and Game Commissioner has come under criticism after sharing photos of himself posing with a family of baboons, including young baboons, he killed while hunting in Africa.

Responded Commissioner Blake Fischer upon finding himself the target of disconcert on Friday, ‘So I shot a whole family of baboons.’ 

A statement that necessarily didn’t sit too well with the governor’s office with The Idaho Statesman reporting Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter now looking into the matter involving the Idaho official.

The Statesman reported Fischer and his wife partaking in a hunting expedition which saw the deaths of least 14 animals in Namibia. Details of which they shared in an email to over 100 recipients with photos and descriptions.

Images included the following slain wildlife: giraffe, leopard, impala, sable antelope, waterbuck, kudu, warthog, gemsbok (oryx) and eland.

‘I didn’t do anything illegal. I didn’t do anything unethical. I didn’t do anything immoral,’ Fischer responded.

Commissioner Blake Fischer: ‘So I shot a whole family of baboons,’

Most of the photos with the African animals are posed as standard big game hunting photos of the kind often seen in Idaho with deer, elk and mountain lions.

The photo causing some to question Fischer’s judgment and ability to remain a commission member is one of him smiling broadly with four dead baboons propped in front of him, blood visible on the abdomen of the smallest baboon. Fischer killed them using a bow and arrows.

‘So I shot a whole family of baboons,’ Fischer wrote below the photo in the emails he sent.

Keith Stonebraker, a former commission member, told the newspaper an apology by Fischer would satisfy him.

‘They killed a whole family, including small baboons, and I think that’s revolting,’ Stonebraker said. ‘It just puts a bad light on us.’

Commissioner Blake Fischer: Ought an avid hunter make rules regarding ethical pursuit of wildlife?

The commission Fischer serves on makes policy decisions concerning Idaho’s wildlife, and it often manages game populations through hunting and fishing regulations. Those regulations are intended to require ethical behavior in the pursuit of wildlife. Some of Idaho’s policies, such as on wolf and grizzly bear hunting, have been challenged in federal courts.

The commission has seven members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Fischer was re-appointed this year, but he needs Senate confirmation.

Former commission member Fred Trevey has since called on Fischer to resign.

‘Sportsmanlike behavior is the center pin to maintaining hunting as a socially acceptable activity,’ he wrote in an email obtained by the newspaper through a public records request.

Not immediately clear is what inspired the I

And then there were these responses on social media which also caught this author’s eye- see what you think?

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