In one of the stranger headlines to come out of the hunting world, an 81-year-old Montana man is facing sentencing for using tissue from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the U.S., to hybridize sheep for captive trophy hunts. While prosecutors are reportedly not seeking prison time, Arthur "Jack" Schubarth of Vaughn, Mont. faces a maximum punishment of five years in prison and an up to $250,000 fine for his two Lacey Act violations, triggered by this wildlife trafficking. Schubarth is asking for a one year probationary sentence.
The further one reads, the stranger it gets. While Schubarth's request stems from the fact that cloning the giant Kyrgystani Marco Polo sheep has ruined his "life, family and reputation," the sentencing memorandum actually congratulated Schubarth for what was, objectively, a scientific feat: creating the Montana Mountain King sheep, since confiscated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
“Jack did something no one else could, or has ever done,” the memo said. “On a ranch, in a barn in Montana, he created Montana Mountain King. MMK is an extraordinary animal, born of science, and from a man who, if he could re-write history, would have left the challenge of cloning a Marco Polo only to the imagination of Michael Crichton."
Schubarth is currently the owner of Sun River Enterprises, a ranch which buys, sells and breeds "alternative livestock" primarily for hunting preserves. He pled guilty in March of this year, along with five others, for conspiring to use the tissue mentioned above to create a large, hybrid species of sheep more valuable for captive hunting. Marco Polo sheep, of course, are the largest on earth, can weigh 300 pounds and sport enormous horns.
Along with this, court records show Schubarth purchased the testicles of a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from Montana as part of the project, and imported 43 sheep from Texas of a breed not allowed in the state. For more on the story, click here.
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