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This post contains graphic images.
Sitting squatting in the middle of the red earth and rocks, Blake Fischer posed for a photo, a triumphant smile spreading across his face. In front of him, arranged in front of him, resembling a photo of a macabre family, are the bodies of four baboons. The smaller head is leaning back, the mouth slightly agape. Crimson blood stains his abdomen. A quiver of arrows is in the foreground.
It is this photo that helped Fischer, one of Idaho's sport fishing commissioners, cope with a blaze of fire that includes more and more calls for his resignation from a job. he had been in office for four years, the Idaho prime minister reported on Friday.
It all started when Fischer and his wife returned from a hunting trip to Namibia last month. Fischer compiled pictures of the animals hunted by the couple, including a leopard, a giraffe, an impala and a waterbuck, and sent the pictures accompanied by a description of each kill to over 100 people, a reported KBOI.
At the top of Fischer's e-mail was the picture of the baboons, according to the politician.
According to the Idaho State Journal, Fischer wrote in an email dated September 17: "My friends, I've been back for a week, but I'm hunting and I'm trying to catch up. Whatever it is, my wife and I went to Namibia for a week. . . first, she wanted to look at me and "become aware" of Africa. . . so I shot a whole family of baboons. I think she had the idea quickly. "
Fischer's e-mail did not respond well to a number of recipients, some of whom are former fish and game commissioners. The email and related responses were obtained by the local media through a request for registration at the Office of the Governor of Idaho.
"They have killed a whole family, including little baboons, and I think it's outrageous," said former Commissioner Keith Stonebraker to the state's man. "… It does not enlighten us."
At least three former commissioners have supported calls for Fischer's resignation, the secretary of state said.
In a long email, Fred Trevey, who served as a commissioner for eight years, advised Fischer to "take responsibility and resign as soon as possible," KBOI reported.
"My reaction to the photo and text that accompanies you smiles and holds a" family "of primates that you have killed, dismayed and disappoints me," wrote Trevey. "I have a hard time understanding how a person who has the privilege of being a commissioner for fishing and hunting in Idaho can consider such an action as a sportsman and an example for others." . "
Although it is legal to hunt baboons in Africa, Trevey wrote that "legally, it does not solve the problem". According to the Idaho State Journal, Trevey's email referred to a hunting manual approved by the state's sport fishing department. hunters should "refrain from taking pictures of the killing and strikingly portray the killing within earshot of non-hunters".
"Your bad judgment has unnecessarily put the credibility of the institution and hunting in general at a glance," he wrote.
Keith E. Carlson, another former commissioner who called Fischer to resign, echoed a similar condemnation of the photo.
"I do not know how you can say anything about a photo of a smiling guy with a stack of dead baboons with a baby on the front," Carlson told the Statesman. . "If you're an anti-hunter, it's raw meat, and I'm a hunter – I've been a hunter forever."
Fischer's email was sent to the governor's office by Derick Attebury, chairman of the Idaho Game and Fish Commission, the official said. The fisheries and hunting commissioners are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate, the department's website says. Each commissioner has a four-year term. Fischer, according to the state secretary, was renamed by the governor C.L. "Butch" Otter must serve until 2022, but has not yet been confirmed.
Fischer, who told the statesman that he had received a call from another commissioner expressing his concerns about the photo, said that he "s sure he was not in trouble. was excused for sending the photos, but that he had defended the hunt.
"I did not do anything illegal," he said. "I did not do anything that was unethical. I did not do anything immoral. … I look at how the Idaho Fisheries Act states that we are supposed to handle all animals for Idaho, as well as any surplus of animals we manage by hunting, fishing and trapping. Africa is doing the same thing.
Fischer said he received a list of animals that could be hunted, some of which required trophy fees, according to the head of state. "Baboons are free," said Fischer.
Idaho Fish and Game could not be reached for comment. A spokesman declined to comment on the statesman and said the commissioners "are appointed by the governor and not by department employees".
On social networks, reactions to the photo have been fierce. Many of them have decried Fischer's actions.repugnant"and"worrisome. "
Comedian Ricky Gervais, a long-time animal rights advocate, posted a scathing word on two words. tweet in which he called Fischer a "pathetic [expletive], "Using a vulgar word to describe the female genitals. "#BanTrophyHunting," he added.
"Blake Fischer loved to kill a lot of African wild animals," the biologist Daniel Schneider tweeted. "Some animals are about to be declared endangered (and he knows it). It should not be an American game [Commissioner]. "
Calls for Fischer's resignation or firing resounded.
"Please treat Blake Fischer's problem immediately", a person tweeted. "He must be removed from his duties because he proved that he was not a champion of wildlife."
Jon Hanian, a spokesman for the governor's office, told the statesman that Otter was aware of the email.
"It is fair to say that the governor is worried about this," said Hanian, adding that Otter had seen the footage. "We are studying the question."
Hanian told the Idaho State Journal that he would not speculate on Fischer's employment status.
"I do not want to go ahead with our process," he said.
Fischer told the statesman that he "had grown up in a family of very ethical hunters". On each photo, he explained that he had tried to "put the animals in a natural position", adding that blood had been wiped from their mouths and that their rifles or bows had been placed on a bullet. Holes.
"These are normal hunting pictures," he said. "You shoot an animal, you take a picture."
Although the photos could fit Fischer's definition of "normal hunting pictures", other passionate hunters, such as Steven Alder, were still troubled by what appeared to be the killing of a whole family of baboons. Alder is the executive director of the pro hunting group Idaho for Wildlife.
"He killed the entire family of baboons and you have a junior junior lying on your mother's lap," Alder told the Statesman. "You just do not do that. I hate wolves as much as anyone, but I will not bring a family of wolves to expose it and show it to the baby wolf. "
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