Montana Man Who Created Huge Franken Sheep Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison

A Montana man who concocted an elaborate plot to clone a huge alien species of sheep will spend time behind bars for his baaaaaaaad behavior.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth was sentenced Monday to six months in prison and will also have to pay $24,200 in fines. The project involved importing parts of an illegal and endangered species of sheep from Central Asia, which Schubarth used to make a clone. Marco Polo’s argali sheep (Ovis ammon polii) are the biggest sheep in the world, and they get big, very, very big. Males can top the scales at 300 pounds (136 kilograms), with horns that extend up to five feet (1.5 meters). Schubarth’s plan was not to create a wool sweater empire. Instead, he wanted to create a new breed of sheep that was even more gigantic, just to kill them.

While human cloning is illegal in the United States, the same is not true for animals. Schubarth’s crimes were more about the acquisition and dissemination of the genetic material used in cloning than about cloning itself. In March, Schubarth pleaded guilty to two felonies: conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and material violation of the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act, enacted in 1900, regulates the importation of wildlife that may harm humans, agriculture, or native wildlife in the United States.

According to a Justice Department press release announcing the conviction, Schubarth, along with at least five others, imported parts of Marco Polo specimens into the United States from Kyrgyzstan without declaring them. One of these anonymous conspirators may have been Schubarth’s son. According to a sentencing memo filed by prosecutors, Schubarth’s son traveled to Kyrgyzstan in 2013, killed an argali sheep and brought back “viable tissue” for cloning. Between 2013 and 2021, the group used a genetics laboratory to create cloned embryos from this tissue. This resulted in the creation of a single male argali sheep, which Schubarth named Montana Mountain King, or MMK.

Schubarth and his conspirators then extracted sperm from the Montana Mountain King, which they used to impregnate females of other species of sheep, the keeping of which was also illegal in Montana, thereby creating hybrids. The goal, the Justice Department said, was to create a new, even larger species of sheep that would be sold to captive hunting centers, mostly located in Texas.

Strange as it may seem, the plan worked – at least until Schubarth was arrested. The massive sheep mammals were shipped to and from Montana, using fake veterinary inspection certificates. Schubarth also sold MMK semen to other breeders. In total, illegal sales were made to customers in 12 states.

“This was not a one-off or one-off crime,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo. “This was an intentional and planned crime that Schubarth committed, even though he knew his actions violated state and federal law.”

“Schubarth not only violated federal and state laws and international treaties, but he and others illegally conspired to conceal their actions from authorities,” said Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim. “Violations of the Lacey Act, CITES and other laws can be devastating to our nation’s wildlife populations, which is why we are unwavering in our commitment to upholding them. »

If you’re wondering why Marco Polos are illegal in the United States, it’s not out of fear that they intimidate other, smaller breeds. The Justice Department said Schubarth’s project put native sheep at risk of disease, and that two sheep that passed through Schubarth’s ranch during the period in question died from Johne’s disease, a wasting disease. contagious. We don’t know if the prospect of decimating native sheep species left Schubarth sheepish.