The rancher created a clone using the body parts of sheep that were illegally bought. His goal was to “create a larger and more valuable species of sheep to sell to captive hunting facilities.”

A Montana rancher was sentenced to six months in prison on Monday after cloning a “near threatened” sheep from Asia and then selling its offspring to shooting preserves, according to court documents.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 81, will spend six months in federal prison, with a 3-year supervised release and have to pay a $20,000 fine and a $4,000 community service payment for cloning the near-threatened Marco Polo sheep from the Asian country Kyrgyzstan.

Schubarth was sentenced for committing two felonies, conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and substantively violating the Lacey Act, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Lacey Act is a law that bans the trafficking of illegally taken wildlife, fish, or plants.

Schubarth and at least five other people conspired to “create a larger hybrid species of sheep that would garner higher prices from shooting preserves” from 2013 to 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Schubarth’s criminal conduct is not how Montanans treat our wildlife population,” said U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich for the District of Montana in a statement. “Indeed, his actions threatened Montana’s native wildlife species for no other reason than he and his co-conspirators wanted to make more money.”

Rancher illegally bought parts of the sheep

The rancher illegally brought parts of the near-threatened Marco Polo argali sheep, one of the largest sheep species in the world, weighing 300 pounds or more, to the U.S. from the Asian country Kyrgyzstan, court records show.

From 2013 to 2021, Schubarth also sold mountain sheep, mountain goats and various other hoofed animals primarily to captive hunting facilities, according to the Justice Department.

Captive hunting facilities, or shooting preserves, allow “allow trophy hunters to shoot animals who are fenced in,” according to the Humane Society of the United States. “The animals are often semi-tame—some have even been hand raised or bottle fed by humans.”

“Argali sheep are trophy hunted due to their large size and unique long spiraling horns,” according to court documents. “Argali horns are the largest of any wild sheep.”

Argali sheep have a market value of over $350 per animal, according to court documents.

A protected species

The sheep are natives to the high elevations of the Pamir region of Central Asia, and “are prohibited in the State of Montana to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization,” the Justice Department said.

The sheep are protected around the world by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and domestically by the Endangered Species Act, according to the Department of Justice.

“This case exemplifies the serious threat that wildlife trafficking poses to our native species and ecosystems,” said Assistant Director Edward Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in a statement. “Mr. Schubarth’s actions not only violated multiple laws designed to protect wildlife, but also risked introducing diseases and compromising the genetic integrity of our wild sheep populations. 

Schubarth pleaded guilty in March

The rancher admitted to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and substantively violating the Lacey Act while owning and operating under Sun River Enterprises LLC, according to court documents filed in March in the District of Montana.

The crime has since “ruined his life, reputation and family,” said his attorneys.

He committed the crimes at Schubarth Ranch, a 215-acre alternative livestock ranch in Vaughn, Montana, records show.

“On a ranch, in a barn in Montana, he created Montana Mountain King (MMK),” the sentencing memorandum submitted by Schubarth’s attorneys stated. “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 to only the imagination of Michael Crichton (the author of Jurassic Park).”

How did Schubarth create the giant hybrid sheep?

To create the hybrid sheep, Schubarth sent genetic material from the argali parts to a third-party lab to generate cloned embryos, according to the Justice Department. He paid a $4,200 deposit for the cloning, according to court records.

The rancher and his co-conspirators then used artificial breeding procedures to implant the 165 cloned Marco Polo embryos into female sheep on Schubarth Ranch, court records show.

Schubarth’s process would result in a single pure genetic male Marco Polo argali named “Montana Mountain King” or “MMK,” the Justice Department said. The rancher then used MMK’s semen to artificially impregnate other female sheep that were illegally possessed in Montana to create “hybrid animals,” according to federal authorities.

Schubarth’s and his co-conspirator’s goal was to “create a larger and more valuable species of sheep to sell to captive hunting facilities, primarily in Texas,” the Justice Department said.

Schubarth illegally sold sheep across the US, DOJ says

Moving the sheep in and out of Montana meant Schubarth and others had to forge veterinary inspection certificates and lie about how the sheep were legally permitted animals, according to court documents. The rancher would also sell MMK’s semen directly to sheep breeders in other U.S. states, the documents continued.

In addition to argali sheep, Schubarth illegally bought genetic material from wild-hunted Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in Montana, court records show. He violated Montana law by purchasing parts of the wild-hunted sheep and selling them. He also sold big horn parts in different states, federal authorities said.

“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 DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in the release. “In pursuit of this scheme, Schubarth violated international law and the Lacey Act, both of which protect the viability and health of native populations of animals.”

Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com

Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@gannett.com

On Tuesday, Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will square off in New York for the only vice presidential debate of the election. Polling from Prolific exclusive to The Independent shows the debate has a chance to tip the scales.

But in truth, whoever wins the White House will not be able to do much if they do not control the Senate, which not only passes bills, but also ratifies treaties and most importantly confirms cabinet and judicial nominees.

That is why both Democrats and Republicans are pouring in money to determine Montana’s Senate race results. Senator Jon Tester, the Democratic incumbent who first won the seat in 2006, is running against Tim Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL. Polling shows Democrats lead in Senate races with incumbents in Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada, as well as in open Senate races in Michigan and Arizona.

But Democrats faced a major blow when Senator Joe Manchin — the former Democrat-turned-independent Senator from West Virginia, a state where every county voted for Donald Trump — announced last year that he would not seek re-election, almost guaranteeing the seat would fall into Republican hands. That left Democrats with only 50 Senate seats, and few opportunities to flip seats save for longshot attempts in Florida and Texas, and turned the spotlight on Montana’s race.

On Monday evening, Tester and Sheehy traded barbs in a debate at the University of Montana at Missoula on everything from abortion to immigration to health care.

The debate focused heavily on reproductive rights given that Montanans will vote on a constitutional amendment that would codify abortion rights, which Tester said he would support.

“I believe women should be, should be able to make their own health care decision,” Tester. “It shouldn’t be the federal government. It shouldn’t be a bureaucrat. It shouldn’t be a judge. Women should be able to make their own health care decisions. That’s what Montanans like.”

Tester sought to criticize Sheehy for previously opposing the amendment being on the ballot. But Sheehy tried to pivot by saying that he supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother and trotted out a known lie, claiming that Tester and Democrats are extremists wanting abortion up until the moment of birth.

“When a baby is born alive, they refuse to enshrine protection for that life,” he said, a common talking point that former president Donald Trump has also made, which is not true and Tester called “total bunk.”

“It’s a lie. It doesn’t happen,” he said. “Those lives are already protected. Tim, you know it, you’re saying it to try to politicize this issue more than it already is.”

Republicans think they have a decent shot at winning the Montana race. Senator Steve Daines, Montana’s junior senator, serves as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and played a major role in clearing the field for Sheehy to avoid a bruising primary. In addition, the Cook Political Report recently changed the rating in Montana’s Senate race from “Toss-up” to “Lean Republican.”

Sheehy attacked Tester on immigration, which has become a top-of-mind issue for many voters, saying it contributed to the increasing cost of housing and sought to tie Tester to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Tester in turn tried to hit Sheehy for opposing a bill that would have tightened restrictions at the US-Mexico border, though Sheehy noted he was not a senator at the time.

“They’ll point to a bill that maybe would have done something that didn’t pass, and have yet another messaging opportunity to distract from the issue that they selectively and intentionally opened the border, stood by and let it stay wide open for years,” Sheehy said.

Montana voted for Trump by double digits in 2016 and 2020. And Trump has frequently criticized Tester — who as the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committeee, sank Trump’s nominee to lead the department in 2018. In August, Trump traveled to Montana to hold a rally for Sheehy.

During his closing remarks, Sheehy pointed to Tester’s opposition to Trump.

“He also voted to impeach Donald Trump twice. [He] said on CNN, we should punch him in the face” Sheehy said.

Monday’s debate was likely the final direct match up between Tester and Sheehy. But while all eyes will be on the debate in New York, Big Sky Country might determine the fate of either Trump or Harris’s agenda.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the earth.

Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a $4,000 payment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Schubarth will be allowed to self-report to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility.

“I will have to work the rest of my life to repair everything I’ve done,” Schubarth told the judge just before sentencing.

Schubarth’s attorney, Jason Holden, said cloning the giant Marco Polo sheep hunted in Kyrgyzstan in 2013 has ruined his client’s “life, reputation and family.”

“I think this has broken him,” Holden said.

Holden, in seeking a probationary sentence, argued that Schubarth was a hard-working man who has always cared for animals and did something that no one else could have done in cloning the giant sheep, which he named Montana Mountain King or MMK.

The animal has been confiscated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and is being held in an accredited facility until it can be transferred to a zoo, said Richard Bare, a special agent with the wildlife service.

Sarah Brown, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, had asked that Schubarth be sentenced to prison, saying his illegal breeding operation was widespread, involved other states and endangered the health of other wildlife. The crime involved forethought, was complex and involved many illegal acts, she said.

Schubarth owns Sun River Enterprises LLC, a 215-acre alternative livestock ranch, which buys, sells and breeds “alternative livestock” such as mountain sheep, mountain goats and ungulates, primarily for private hunting preserves, where people shoot captive trophy game animals for a fee, prosecutors said. He had been in the game farm business since 1987, Schubarth said.

Schubarth pleaded guilty in March to charges that he and five other people conspired to use tissue from a Marco Polo sheep illegally brought into the U.S. to clone that animal and then use the clone and its descendants to create a larger, hybrid species of sheep that would be more valuable for captive hunting operations.

Marco Polo sheep are the largest in the world, can weigh 300 pounds and have curled horns up to 5 feet long, court records said.

Schubarth sold semen from MMK along with hybrid sheep to three people in Texas, while a Minnesota resident brought 74 sheep to Schubarth’s ranch for them to be inseminated at various times during the conspiracy, court records said. Schubarth sold one direct offspring from MMK for $10,000 and other sheep with lesser MMK genetics for smaller amounts.

The total value of the animals involved was greater than $250,000 but less than $550,000, prosecutors said. Hybrid sheep were also sold to people in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota and West Virginia, prosecutors said.

In October 2019, court records said, Schubarth paid a hunting guide $400 for the testicles of a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep that had been harvested in Montana and then extracted and sold the semen, court records said.

Sheep breeds that are not allowed in Montana were brought into the state as part of the conspiracy, including 43 sheep from Texas, prosecutors said.

“You were so focused on getting around those rules you got off track,” Morris said.

Holden sought reduced restitution, saying Schubarth fed and cared for the hybrid sheep on his ranch until they could be slaughtered and the meat donated to a food bank. The remaining hybrid sheep with Marco Polo DNA on his ranch must be sent to slaughter by the end of the year with the meat also being donated, Morris said. Morris gave Schubarth until December 2025 to sell his Rocky Mountain bighorn hybrid sheep.

Schubarth will not be allowed to breed game stock during the three years he is on probation, Morris said.

The five co-conspirators were not named in court records, but Schubarth’s plea agreement requires him to cooperate fully with prosecutors and testify if called to do so. The case is still being investigated, Montana wildlife officials said.

Schubarth, in a letter attached to the sentencing memo, said he becomes extremely passionate about any project he takes on, including his “sheep project,” and is ashamed of his actions.

“I got my normal mindset clouded by my enthusiasm and looked for any grey area in the law to make the best sheep I could for this sheep industry,” he wrote. “My family has never been broke, but we are now.”

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