Arthur "Jack" Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana, pled guilty to federal charges of violating the Lacey Act, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Schubarth ran Schubarth Ranch, an "alternative livestock" ranch in Montana. The primary customers for the ranch were big game hunters on captive hunting operations, also known as shooting preserves or game ranches.
But, you know how these things go; everyone wants to bag the biggest, baddest prize, so Schubarth figured since we're living in the age of DNA manipulation, he could make something worthy of the hunt and sell it to hunting preserves around the nation.
Little did he think about the ramifications.
This next bit is the stuff of pure science fiction come to life:
Schubarth brought parts of the largest sheep in the world, Marco Polo argali sheep (Ovis ammon polii), from Kyrgyzstan into the United States without declaring the importation. Average males can weigh more than 300 pounds with horns that span more than five feet.
Schubarth sent genetic material from the argali parts to a lab to create cloned embryos. Schubarth then implanted the embryos in ewes on his ranch, resulting in a single, pure genetic male Marco Polo argali that he named "Montana Mountain King" or MMK.
Court documents explain that Schubarth worked with the other unnamed coconspirators to use MMK's semen to artificially impregnate various other species of ewes - all of which were prohibited in Montana - and create hybrid animals.
And so they did: Giant, mutant bighorn sheep.
Katie Cheesbrough, Executive Director Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, said,
"They (Marco Polo sheep) have really cool spiraling horns beyond the full curl of bighorn sheep native to North America. With that said, they are also a vastly different species from Wyoming's native bighorn sheep," she said. "Although the physical outcome of hybridizing an Argali and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep creates a sense of curiosity, it's not a good idea."
And she's glad that Schubarth got busted.
"Wyoming's bighorn sheep are up against enough challenges as it is without having to compete with an Argali hybrid, too," Cheesbrough said.
For each violation of the Lacey Act, Schubarth faces a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
He is scheduled for sentencing in July by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Brian M. Morris for the District of Montana.
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