Court Opinion

ID: 9466100
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:05:49.009467+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:33.005549
License: Public Domain

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I am unable to draw the distinction for “wild” mallard ducks which the majority finds. To me, the findings and conclusions of the magistrate and the district court’s opinion amply support the conviction of defendant-appellant Conners and I would therefore affirm.
The defendant’s brief refers to the contention at trial as to whether the ducks which were killed were the ones which had escaped from the cages of the Colorado Retriever Club or were the experimental birds belonging to Ells, a civilian employee of the Government. The defendant’s brief then acknowledges that three Government witnesses testified that the birds which were killed had streamers on one wing (identification which was supposed to have been on the arsenal birds), while the co-defendant Mathias and four other witnesses testified that they did not have the streamers and were believed to be field trial ducks. (Brief of Appellant, 5-6). This admitted evidence is sufficient to me, along with the findings made, to sustain the convictions.
The majority opinion relies on references in the treaties with Great Britain and Mexico (but not with Japan) and in the regulations to “migratory game birds” and “wild ducks.” In 50 C.F.R., § 20.11, there is a definition of “migratory game birds”1 for which open seasons are prescribed, and that *274definition does enumerate “(1) Anatidae (wild ducks, geese, brant, and swans).” However this definition is plainly limited to the part of the regulations on “Migratory Bird Hunting.” Our case, of course, does not involve such open season hunting. The regulation applicable here, I feel, is the one in 50 C.F.R. § 10.12 with the general definition of “migratory birds.” This definition is applicable throughout Subchapter B (see 50 C.F.R. § 10.11) on the “Taking, Possession ... of Wildlife and Plants.” That general definition clearly protects migratory birds “whether or not raised in captivity . . ”2 We have recently rejected arguments seeking to narrow the protection afforded to migratory birds by the treaties and the regulations. See United States v. Richards, 583 F.2d 491 (10th Cir.). We stated there that “[t]he Act applies to migratory birds, not wild birds.” Id. at 494.
It is true that if we had only the treaty with Great Britain to consider, the defendant’s position would seem correct because the only definition of that treaty embracing ducks appears in its definition of migratory game birds which includes, inter alia, “(a) Anatidae or waterfowl, including brant, wild ducks, geese and swans.” 39 Stat. 1702. However, the treaty with Mexico includes within its general definitions in Article IV of migratory game birds the “Familia Anatidae.” 50 Stat. 1313. The additional provision in Article II of the Mexican treaty for establishing a close season for wild ducks, id., does not detract from the breadth of the general protective definition. And the treaty with Japan, as the majority opinion notes, has a broad and clear definition of “Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)” as a protected species of migratory birds. 16 U.S.C. § 703 prohibits the killing, inter alia, of “any migratory birds . included in the terms of the conventions” with the three nations. Since the statute protects any migratory bird within any of the three treaties, the clear provisions of the treaty with Japan are enough to protect the ducks involved in this incident. See Coggins and Patti, The Resurrection and Expansion of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 50 U.Colo.L.Rev. 165, 177. (1979).
The district court’s opinion explains persuasively why there is no applicable exception in the regulations covering the killing of the ducks in this case. Since no such exception in the regulations applies, I feel that 16 U.S.C. § 703 prohibited the killing of the ducks and that the conviction should be upheld.

. 50 C.F.R. § 20.11 provides in part:
§ 20.11 Meaning of terms.
For the purpose of this part, the following terms shall be construed respectively, to mean and to include:
“Migratory game birds” means those migratory birds included in the terms of conventions between the United States and any foreign country for the protection of migratory birds, for which open seasons are prescribed in this part and belong to the following families:
(1) Anatidae (wild ducks, geese, brant, and swans); (Emphasis added)

. 50 C.F.R. § 10.12 provides in pertinent part:
“Migratory birds” means all birds, whether or not raised in captivity, included in the terms of conventions between the United States and any foreign country for the protection of migratory birds and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 16 U.S.C. 703-711. (For reference purposes only a list of migratory birds by species appears in § 10.13).
“Migratory game birds”: See § 20.11 of this subchapter.