A day after the images were reported by Fairfax Media, the club announced Nick Haridemos would be stepping down as vice president, effective immediately.

On Wednesday, the club moved to distance itself from the photos, which feature Mr Haridemos posing alongside various animals he has shot and killed on safari in Africa.

Along with an itinerary of bloodied hyenas and dead elephants is a photo of a baboon posed behind the wheel of a jeep in sunglasses and a hat, as Mr Haridemos smiles from the passenger seat. The image spread like wildfire across social media on Tuesday, and was slammed by animal rights group as "appalling" and "disturbing".

Club president Andrew Satsias told Fairfax Media the club "definitely [did] not" endorse the images, which are "in no way connected to or representative of the values of the Hellenic Club or its members".

"The club empathises with anyone who has mistakenly associated the club with the photos," he said.

Overnight, the club was flooded with emails and negative reviews on its Facebook page, as calls for a boycott of the establishment until Mr Haridemos was removed from the board grew.

A number of club members also said they would be revoking their membership unless action was taken.

Mr Satsias said the club supported, and would continue to support, wildlife groups and conservation charities such as the RSPCA.

"As a large community club we recognise our role as a significant contributor to the social fabric and values of our city, and we stand by our obligation to reflect the best for our community and members," he said.

The photos of Mr Haridemos were originally posted to an online forum where hunters report their kills on the continent, as well as on a public Photobucket account belonging to a "nickha1", and appear to have been taken over a number of hunting trips between 2010 and late 2016. This month, they also surfaced on Twitter.

Through his lawyer, Mr Haridemos did not deny posting the photos but stressed all hunting trips were legal.

"Mr Haridemos has, on occasions, engaged in the activity of 'conservation hunting'," his solicitor said.

"This is a regulated activity, which is undertaken in accordance with licences and quotas issued by the relevant country, and is conducted in a manner that does not pose a threat to any endangered species."

Mr Haridemos declined to comment further.

Before his resignation, he had been a longstanding member of the Hellenic Club's board of directors, Mr Satsias confirmed.

"[He] offered his resignation immediately upon the article being published in order to distance the club from his personal activities ... [we] immediately accepted," Mr Satsias said.

The baboon pictured appears to have been shot in 2010 on a trip to Zimbabwe run through Charlton McCallum Safaris, which charges up to $2000 a day and up to $15,000 for trophy kills.

"Absolutely funny as hell!" the user "nickh" wrote in the accompanying post, referencing a video that was also taken of the dead baboon at the wheel.

"The new driver gig was a blast ... We did a video clip with Blake wired into the microphone talking and we actually drove off!"

In 2016, the same account posted photos of Mr Haridemos on another hunt in Namibia shooting elephants and posing with ivory.

The Canberra Times understands that hunt was run through Nyae Nyae Conservancy, which was a granted a hunting quota from the Namibian government that same year, and has a history of running legal hunts in the country since 1998.

Nicola Beynon at the Australian branch of Humane Society International said trophy hunting had no place in modern conservation.

"Most people are repulsed by trophy hunters posing for pictures with slaughtered wildlife," she said.

"The ivory trade is sounding the death knell for African elephants."

On the forum, photos were accompanied by detailed reports of numerous hunts, signed off by "Nick", including flying business class into Namibia to hunt multiple elephants, and putting a bull elephant that had already been shot by poachers "out of its misery".

In a post detailing the 2010 hunt, nickh refers to shooting "a big old baboon as we had stopped to change a flat tyre".

"He was a cocky old guy, thinking he was out of range at 171m, but he stopped to look back and the new Blaser R8 416 quickly 'made my day'," the post said.

After Fairfax put questions to Mr Haridemos, images of him posing with slain animals were removed from the Photobucket account.

A spokeswoman for animal rights group PETA Australia described the images as appalling.

"With boundless opportunities for amusement, it speaks volumes that such people get a thrill from gunning down, and turning into objects of ridicule, other individuals who ask for nothing out of life but the chance to live it," she said.

In 2016, a landmark study found elephant populations across Africa had fallen by 30 per cent in just five years and were continuing to decline.

On average, one elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory, according to IFAW, spearheading global efforts to end the trade.

The Canberra Times is not suggesting Mr Haridemos is himself involved in the illegal ivory trade.