Man sentenced to six months in prison for giant sheep cloning

( NewsNation ) — An 81-year-old man from Montana was sentenced to six months imprisonment on Monday for the illegal use of large sheep testicles and tissue in an attempt to create trophy hunting sheep.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, of Vaughan, Montana, was taking sheep hunted in the U.S. and Asia to breed for captive hunting in Minnesota and Texas.

The 81-year-old was fined $20,000 and must pay $4,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation, notwithstanding time in a federal prison.

Schubarth’s animal, named Montana Mountain King, which he cloned has since been confiscated and will eventually be transported to a zoo.

Schubarth pleaded guilty in March to charges that he and five other people conspired to use tissue from a Marco Polo sheep illegally brought into the U.S. to clone that animal and then use the clone and its descendants to create a larger, hybrid species of sheep that would be more valuable for captive hunting operations.

Marco Polo sheep are the largest in the world, can weigh 300 pounds (136 kilograms), and have curled horns up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, court records said.

Schubarth sold semen from MMK along with hybrid sheep to three people in Texas, while a Minnesota resident brought 74 sheep to Schubarth’s ranch for them to be inseminated at various times during the conspiracy, court records said. Schubarth sold one direct offspring from MMK for $10,000 and other sheep with lesser MMK genetics for smaller amounts.

“I will have to work the rest of my life to repair everything I’ve done,” Schubarth told the judge just before sentencing.

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