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Sept. 30 (UPI) -- An Octogenarian Montana livestock rancher was sentenced Monday to six months in prison for cloning giant sheep hybrids to be sold and hunted, federal prosecutors said. Arthur "Jack" Schubarth, 81, of Vaughn, pleaded guilty in March to two felony crimes under the Lacey Act, which protects wildlife from being taken, owned, transported or sold in violation of any U.S. law.
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According to federal prosecutors, Schubarth conspired with at least five others between 2013 and 2021 to create sheep hybrid species that would fetch them higher prices from shooting preserves.
The prosecutors said that he had cloned one of the largest sheep in the world whose semen he used to impregnant various species of ewes to create hybrid animals with the goal of creating a large species of sheep to be sold of large sums of money in captive hunting facilities, mostly located in Texas.
"His actions threatened Montana's native wildlife species for no other reason than he and his co-conspirators wanted to make more money," U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich for the District of Montana said in a statement. "Schubarth's greed drove their conspiracy to bring to Montana parts of the largest sheep in the world from Kyrgyzstan. Such actions to create hybrid animals are as unnatural as they are illegal."
From his 215-acre alternative livestock ranch in Vaughn, located about 165 miles from Butte, Schubarth bought, sold and bred what are called "alternative livestock," such as mountain sheep, mountain goats and various ungulates.
Federal prosecutors said that during the nearly decade-long scheme, Schubarth imported parts of the largest sheep in the world, including the Marco Polo argali sheep from Kyrgyzstan, and whose genetical material he sent to a lab, which would create him cloned embryos. Schubarth would then implant the embryos in Ewes on his ranch.
Federal prosecutors said the Marco Polo argali sheep in not only protected internationally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, but domestically as well, both federally and locally.
With a cloned embryo, Schubarth was successful in producing a pure genetic male Marco Polo argali sheep he named Montana Mountain King.
Schubarth and his co-conspirators then transported the illegal sheep in and out of the state with the use of forged veterinary inspection certifications that claimed the animal was of a different species. He also sold its semen directly to breeders in other states.
Federal prosecutors said such actions threatened the lives of native animals, and at least two sheep died from Jone's disease, a contagious chronic wasting disease.
He also illegally obtained genetic material for wild-hunted Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Montana and sold parts of such an animal to buyers in other states.
"Schubarth not only violated federal and state law and international treaties, but he and others illegally conspired to conceal their actions from authorities," Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement.
"Violations of the Lacey Act, CITES and other laws can be devastating for our domestic populations of wild animals, which is why we are unwavering in our commitment to enforce them."
Along with his three-year sentence, Schubarth was ordered Monday to pay a $20,000 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, a $4,000 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and a $200 special assessment.
