Man sentenced to 6 months in prison for effort to create giant sheep hybrids

( The Hill ) – A Montana man was sentenced to six months in prison for crimes committed during his effort to create a giant sheep hybrid for captive hunting, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Monday .

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, was sentenced for committing two felony wildlife crimes as part of a nearly decade-long effort to create giant sheep hybrid animals in the United States and sell them to hunting facilities.

Schubarth is the owner of Sun River Enterprises LLC, known as Schubarth Ranch, which is a 215-acre “alternative livestock ranch” in Vaughn, Montana. There, he participated in the purchase, sale and breeding of alternative animals including mountain sheep and mountain goats, the DOJ’s release said.

Schubarth pleaded guilty to two felony charges in March. He had been accused of conspiring with several others to create a larger hybrid species of sheep between 2013 and 2021, to get higher prices from shooting preserves. He was charged with conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, and then violating the act.

The Lacey Act is intended to combat the illegal trafficking of plants and animals, per the Department of Agriculture .

Without declaring the import, Schubarth brought tissues from the largest sheep in the world from Kyrgyzstan to Montana. The DOJ said the largest males can weigh more than 300 pounds and have horns that span more than 5 feet.

They animals are internationally protected as an endangered species, and are prohibited in the state of Montana to protect native sheep.

The DOJ said Schubarth sent the sheep’s genetic material to a lab to clone embryos and then implanted them in ewes on his ranch. It resulted in a “single, pure genetic Male Marco Polo argali that he named ‘Montana Mountain King’ or MMK.” The animal has since been confiscated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and will eventually be moved to a zoo, the Associated Press reported.

Schubarth and others used that animals’ genetics to artificially impregnate “various other species of ewes,” which are all banned in Montana, to “create hybrid animals.”

“Their goal was to create a larger and more valuable species of sheep to sell to hunting facilities, primarily in Texas,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ said Schubarth and others forged veterinary inspection certificates, lied about the product he sent sheep breeders, and illegally collected genetic material from wild-hunted Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

At least two sheep from the scheme died from a “contagious, chronic wasting disease,” the DOJ said.

In addition to his prison sentence, Schubarth was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, a $4,000 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and a $200 special assessment.

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