Montana Man Sentenced for Illegal Sheep Cloning Scheme

Cloning Sheep for Trophy Hunting

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, an 81-year-old man from Mon­tana, has been sen­tenced for ille­gal­ly cloning sheep and cre­at­ing hybrids in an effort to pro­vide ani­mals for tro­phy hunt­ing oper­a­tions in Texas and Min­neso­ta. Schubarth used sperm import­ed from Kyr­gyzs­tan to cre­ate a gigan­tic Mar­co Polo sheep he called the “Mon­tana Moun­tain King.”

A Real-Life “Jurassic Park” Scenario

Schubarth’s attor­ney described his clien­t’s efforts as being akin to the premise of the nov­el “Juras­sic Park,” where he suc­cess­ful­ly cloned a rare breed of sheep and then used it to breed oth­er ani­mals for the tro­phy hunt­ing indus­try. The result­ing “Franken-sheep” weighed up to 300 pounds and had horns up to 5 feet long.

Confiscation of the Cloned Sheep

The cloned “Mon­tana Moun­tain King” sheep has now been con­fis­cat­ed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser­vices, putting an end to Schubarth’s decade-long attempt to genet­i­cal­ly engi­neer these mas­sive sheep for tro­phy hunt­ing. While he avoid­ed prison time, Schubarth faces sig­nif­i­cant fines for his ille­gal activities.