A Montana man used cloning technology to breed giant “frankensheep” in violation of federal law, then sold the sheep to hunting facilities.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, was not sheepish and pleaded guilty to two federal crimes, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
Schubarth illegally obtained embryos from the largest sheep in the world, Marco Polo argali sheep, which are native to Central Asia, according to the feds. He then sent them to a lab to be cloned and implanted the embryos in ewes on his 215-acre ranch near Vaughn, Mont.
The result was a single, pure genetic male Marco Polo argali, which Schubarth named “Montana Mountain King.”
Schubarth then used the giant sheep’s semen to artificially impregnate “various other species of ewes — all of which were prohibited in Montana — and create hybrid animals,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
Once the offspring were born, Schubarth sold them to captive hunting preserves, places where people pay to hunt big game animals, according to the feds. Such facilities were outlawed in Montana in 2000 but remain legal in other states. Many of Schubarth’s giant sheep were sent to Texas.
“This was an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies,” Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said.
Schubarth’s scheme began in January 2013 and continued through October 2022, the feds said. He pleaded guilty to two felonies: wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife.
Marco Polo argali sheep are internationally protected as an endangered species. Additionally, they are prohibited in Montana to protect the native sheep population.
“The kind of crime we uncovered here could threaten the integrity of our wildlife species in Montana,” said Ron Howell, the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks enforcement chief.
