Three former Panhandle Idaho Fish and Game Commissioners stood behind a request for Blake Fischer to resign after the commissioner from Meridian bragged about killing a family of baboons.

Fischer, who represents southwest Idaho, resigned from the commission Monday at the governor’s request.

Former Panhandle comissioners Tony McDermott, Nancy Hadley and Pete Thompson were among a list of former comissioners who signed on to a letter from Fred Trevey reprimanding Fischer for sending out an email with graphic photographs from an African safari.

Current Panhandle Commissioner Brad Corkill declined to comment.

One of the photographs shows a grinning Fischer with a pile of dead and bloody baboons, including immature baboons, that he referred to as a “family.”

In the email sent to about 125 recipients last week, Fischer said he and his wife went to Namibia. It was his wife’s first trip and his third to the country on the continent’s southwest region.

“Really special for me to share this experience,” Fischer wrote in the email accompanied by images of his trophies.

“First day she wanted to watch me, and ‘get a feel’ of Africa. So I shot a whole family of baboons. I think she got the idea quick,” he wrote.

Repercussions soon followed.

Trevey, a former Clearwater commissioner, and other former comissioners, chastised Fischer for his lack of ethics, and for compromising his responsibility as a role model.

“The privilege to serve Idaho’s wildlife, youth, sportsmen and sportswomen as an Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner cannot be overstated,” Trevey wrote. “Along with this privilege comes responsibility.

“My reaction to the photo and accompanying text of you smiling and holding a “family” of primates you killed, dismays and disappoints me.”

Trevey added a page on ethics from the Fish and Game commission’s manual.

“I have a difficult time understanding how a person privileged to be an Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner can view such an action as sportsmanlike and an example to others,” according to the letter. “Sportsmanlike behavior is the center pin to maintaining hunting as a socially acceptable activity.”

Fischer opted to resign Monday.

“I apologize to the hunters and anglers who I was appointed to represent, and I hope that my actions will not harm the integrity and ethic of the Idaho Fish & Game Department moving forward,” he wrote in his resignation letter to the governor.

Idaho’s seven Fish and Game commission members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. They make policy decisions about Idaho’s wildlife, including setting hunting and fishing regulations.

Fischer owns B.A. Fischer Sales Co., Inc. in Boise and manufactures specialty archery equipment as owner of Traditional Pursuit Inc., according to the Idaho Fish and Game website. He is the Idaho co-chair for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, past president of the Idaho Traditional Bowhunters and was recently named Big Brother of the Year by Big Brothers and Big Sisters, a group that advocates for children.