Rancher Gets Prison Sentence for Breeding Hybrid Sheep

A Montana man has been sentenced to six months in prison for his involvement in a sheep cloning and breeding scheme involving a rare ovine species.

According to USA Today , 81-year-old Arthur "Jack" Schubarth is going to prison after cloning a rare species of sheep from Asia and implanting the embryos in his own sheep in an attempt to create bigger hybrid sheep. The Department of Justice claims that Schubarth imported parts of a Marco Polo argali sheep, the largest sheep species in the world, into the U.S. from Kyrgyzstan without declaring it to authorities. This was a violation of the Lacey Act, which prohibits the illegal trade of wildlife, fish, and plants, as well as the Endangered Species Act and rules set by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In Montana, they're prohibited to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization like this.

Schubarth's goal, authorities say, was to sell clones of his new hybrid sheep to captive hunting facilities—in other words, shooting preserves or game ranches —for a higher price than what other animals would normally fetch. He wasn't the only one involved, as at least five other individuals were considered part of the conspiracy, according to a Department of Justice statement .

"Schubarth not only violated federal and state law and international treaties, but he and others illegally conspired to conceal their actions from authorities," Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the DOJ Environment and Natural Resources Division said.

"Schubarth’s criminal conduct is not how Montanans treat our wildlife population,"  U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Jesse Laslovich added. "His actions threatened Montana’s native wildlife species for no other reason than he and his co-conspirators wanted to make more money. Schubarth’s greed drove their conspiracy to bring to Montana parts of the largest sheep in the world from Kyrgyzstan . Such actions to create hybrid animals are as unnatural as they are illegal, and I applaud the extensive collaboration and diligence of all of our law enforcement partners to bring Schubarth to justice."

Schubarth will spend six months behind bars and have a three-year supervised release. He'll also have to pay a $20,000 fine and a $4,000 community service payment.