Rancher creates ‘massive’ sheep through cloning to sell for trophy hunting, feds say
The owner of a Montana ranch had the largest sheep on Earth cloned to create “massive” hybrid sheep to sell for trophy hunting, according to the Justice Department.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, knew his primary customers — captive hunting facilities such as shooting preserves and game ranches — would pay higher prices for bigger sheep, the Justice Department said.
However, Schubarth’s yearslong endeavor to create “a larger and more valuable” sheep species for profit violated federal and international law, according to prosecutors.
Schubarth, of Vaughn, pleaded guilty on March 12 to two felony wildlife crimes: a conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and violating the Lacey Act, the Justice Department announced 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.
McClatchy News contacted Jason T. Holden, Schubarth’s defense attorney, for comment on March 13 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
The cloning of a Marco Polo argali sheep
Schubarth runs Sun River LLC, a 215-acre ranch also known as Schubarth Ranch in Vaughn, prosecutors said. There, “alternative livestock,” including mountain sheep, are purchased, sold and bred, the Justice Department said. Vaughn is about a 100-mile drive north from Helena, the state’s capital.
Schubarth is accused of working with at least five others from 2013 to 2021 to create hybrid sheep from the genetic material of a Marco Polo argali sheep, the largest sheep species in existence, according to prosecutors.
Marco Polo argali sheep (Ovis ammon polii) are native to Central Asia and inhabit high elevations in a mountainous region known as the Pamir region. They are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and by the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Justice Department said.
Males of the species can weigh more than 300 pounds, and their horns can grow to be more than 5 feet in length, prosecutors said.
After a Marco Polo argali sheep was hunted in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, Schubarth had the sheep’s parts trafficked into the U.S. without properly declaring their importation in 2013, according to prosecutors.
By October 2015, “Schubarth entered into an ‘Ovine Cloning Contract’ to clone an unspecified number of Marco Polo sheep,” court documents say.
Schubarth sent the Marco Polo sheep’s genetic material to a lab, resulting in the creation of cloned embryos, the Justice Department said.
In November 2016, 165 Marco Polo sheep embryos arrived at his ranch, according to court documents.
The ‘Montana Mountain King’ is born
Schubarth implanted ewes, female sheep, at his ranch with the cloned embryos — leading to the birth of a “pure genetic male Marco Polo argali,” according to prosecutors.
He named this sheep the “Montana Mountain King,” the Justice Department said.
Marco Polo argali aren’t allowed in the state of Montana “to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization,” according to prosecutors.
After the sheep was born, Schubarth and others used its semen to impregnate different ewes at Schubarth’s ranch to create Marco Polo argali hybrid offspring, prosecutors said.
Hybrid sheep are shipped and sold
Schubarth shipped semen from the Montana Mountain King and sold the sheep’s offspring to individuals in other states, including Texas, according to court documents.
For example, in July 2020, Schubarth agreed to sell one of the sheep’s offspring, named “Montana Black Magic,” to two people in Texas for $10,000, court documents say.
He also agreed to sell these people 11 sheep that had 25% of the Montana Mountain King’s genetics for $13,200, according to court documents.
In the same month, the two individuals also paid Schubarth $23,000 to buy 12 of the Montana Mountain King’s offspring, the court documents say.
“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.
In addition to Marco Polo argali sheep, Schubarth also “illegally obtained” genetic material from Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep that were hunted in Montana, according to the Justice Department.
Under state law, parts from hunted game animals cannot be sold, and the state’s game animals can’t be used on alternative livestock ranches such as Schubarth’s ranch, prosecutors said.
He’s accused of selling and transporting parts from Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
Schubarth’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11, prosecutors said.
He faces up to five years in prison for each of the two felony counts he pleaded guilty to, according to the Justice Department. He could also be ordered to pay a fine up to $250,000.
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