Thanks to everyone who provided some thoughts on ravens. I was a bit vague about the legal case I was referring to. There was no question about the fact that laws had been broken. Killing both crows and ravens was a violation of state and federal laws (there was no crow season in Washington at the time). It was the penalty phase and lawyers were making appeals concerning the seriousness of the infraction. In this phase, there is considerable latitude to consider public resource values and community values concerning the resource damage that had occurred. My response to the defense lawyer was likely not very helpful. I talked about the relative rarity of ravens (at least, compared to crows) and their greater association with wilderness or rural settings. I think I might have suggested that their "mystique" made them of greater interest to many birders and naturalists.

Anyway, I was simply curious what kinds of arguments might be raised concerning the seriousness of someone killing crows illegally and whether or not there is a reasonable argument for a greater seriousness of the infraction when ravens are killed.

Kelly McAllister