The judge asks the defendant "What were you thinking when you shot that spotted owl!" 

"Well, your honor." replys the man, "My son and I were stranded in the woods for over a week. We were starving and cold. It was the only way I could feed my son."

"Well, condsidering the circumstances," the judge remisses, "I will drop the charge against you only because you were trying to provide for your boy."

After the hearing, out in the hall, the judge asked the man, "What did that owl taste like, anyway?

The man replied, "It was a cross between a Bald Eagle, a Whooping Crane, and a California Condor."