A Montana rancher has pleaded guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife after illegally using tissue and testicles from wild sheep to breed 'giant' hybrids for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas. The rancher, 80-year-old Arthur 'Jack' Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana, appeared before a federal judge in Missoula and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
According to court documents and federal prosecutors, Schubarth conspired with at least five other individuals in a decade-long effort to create hybrid sheep species that would fetch higher prices in hunting preserves. He used tissue from a Marco Polo argali sheep killed in Kyrgyzstan to procure cloned embryos, resulting in a pure Marco Polo argali sheep named 'Montana Mountain King.' Schubarth then used semen from Montana Mountain King to breed larger and more valuable sheep species.
