Arthur "Jack" Schubarth, the owner of a Montana ranch, was behind a cloning scheme to create the largest sheep on earth. The "massive" hybrid sheep would then be sold for trophy hunting, revealed the Justice Department.
Schubarth, 80, knew his regular and loyal customers. Captive hunting facilities, shooting preserves, and game ranches would outbid one another for bigger sheep, as reported by The Sacramento Bee.
Prosecutors argue Schubarth's yearslong aspiration to create "a larger and more valuable" species of sheep for profit violated federal and international law.
The mad breeder pleaded guilty on March 12 to two felony wildlife crimes: a conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and violating the Lacey Act, said the Justice Department in a news release.
"This was an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies," Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division said in the release.
Schubarth is the owner of Sun River LLC, a 215-acre ranch also known as Schubarth Ranch in Vaughn, Montana. There, prosecutors allege "alternative livestock," including mountain sheep, are purchased, sold, and bred.
He is known to have worked with at least five others from 2013 to 2021 to produce hybrid sheep from the genetic material of a Marco Polo argali sheep-- the largest sheep species currently in existence.
These sheep are native to Central Asia and live in high elevations in a mountainous region known as the Pamir region. Furthermore, they are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and by the US Endangered Species Act.
Males alone can weigh more than 300 pounds, with their horns growing to be more than five feet in length.
Schubarth had the sheep's parts trafficked into the US without properly declaring their importation after a Marco Polo argali sheep was hunted in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan in 2013.
With cloned embryos, Schubarth implanted ewes and female sheep at his ranch, which led to the birth of a "pure genetic male Marco Polo argali."
He allegedly named the sheep "Montana Mountain King."
Montana law does not allow possession of the argali sheep in order "to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization."
After Montana Mountain King was born, Schubarth and his associates used its semen to impregnate different ewes at his ranch to further the production of the hybrid offspring.
Records reveal Schubarth agreed to sell one of the sheep's offspring, named, "Montana Black Magic," to two individuals in Texas for $10,000. He also agreed to sell the same group eleven sheep that contained 25% of the Montana Mountain King's genetics for $13,200.
"To move the prohibited sheep into and out of Montana, Schubarth and others forged veterinary inspection certificates, falsely claiming that the sheep were legally permitted species," prosecutors said.
Under state law, hunted game animals and their parts cannot be sold or used on alternative livestock ranches.
He stands accused of selling and transporting parts from Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11.
Schubarth faces up to five years in prison for each of the two felony counts, and a fine of up to $250,000 could also issued.
