An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the U.S. to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur 鈥淛ack鈥 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 鈥渃hange the genetic makeup of the creatures鈥 on the earth.
Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a US$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.
鈥淚 will have to work the rest of my life to repair everything I've done,鈥 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 鈥渓ife, reputation and family."
鈥淚 think this has broken him,鈥 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 (87-hectare) alternative livestock ranch, which buys, sells and breeds 鈥渁lternative livestock鈥 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 (136 kilograms) and have curled horns up to 5 feet (1.5 metres) 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鈥檚 ranch for them to be inseminated at various times during the conspiracy, court records said. Schubarth sold one direct offspring from MMK for US$10,000 and other sheep with lesser MMK genetics for smaller amounts.
The total value of the animals involved was greater than US$250,000 but less than US$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.
鈥淵ou were so focused on getting around those rules you got off track,鈥 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 鈥渟heep project,鈥 and is ashamed of his actions.
鈥淚 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,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淢y family has never been broke, but we are now.鈥
As war in the Middle East spread Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister M茅lanie Joly 'unequivocally' condemned Iran's move to fire dozens of missiles into Israel but asked the Jewish state not to respond in a bid to avoid further escalation.
Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of escalating attacks in a yearslong conflict between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer toward a regionwide war.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government survived another Conservative-led non-confidence vote on Tuesday, the second in less than a week. This, the same day the Bloc Quebecois had an opportunity to table a non-confidence motion of its own, opting instead to push the Liberals to support one of its key demands.
Tributes have started pouring in for a Midland, Ont. man who died after reportedly being struck by an unmarked provincial police vehicle over the weekend.
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An attorney said Tuesday he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥 Combs, the hip-hop mogul who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Owners of small and medium-sized businesses will finally receive their long-awaited carbon pricing refunds before the end of this year, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on Tuesday.
At least six people were killed and nine wounded in a suspected shooting and stabbing terror attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Israeli police said.
John Amos, who starred as the family patriarch on the hit 1970s sitcom 'Good Times' and earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the seminal 1977 miniseries 'Roots,' has died. He was 84.
A British Columbia lawyer has resigned from the provincial law society after he sexually harassed staff at his law firm, including attempts to surreptitiously photograph one employee without her knowledge, according to the regulator.
Kingston, Ont. police say several people have been arrested and charged following a break-in at a home in the city's east end last week.
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A 13-year-old girl has been charged with allegedly murdering her s-year-old sister in Taylor over the weekend.
At least six people were killed and nine wounded in a suspected shooting and stabbing terror attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Israeli police said.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government survived another Conservative-led non-confidence vote on Tuesday, the second in less than a week. This, the same day the Bloc Quebecois had an opportunity to table a non-confidence motion of its own, opting instead to push the Liberals to support one of its key demands.
As war in the Middle East spread Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister M茅lanie Joly 'unequivocally' condemned Iran's move to fire dozens of missiles into Israel but asked the Jewish state not to respond in a bid to avoid further escalation.
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An attorney said Tuesday he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥 Combs, the hip-hop mogul who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Frank Fritz, who appeared on the History Channel antiques collector show 'American Pickers,' has died, according to his co-presenter and 'American Pickers' creator Mike Wolfe. Fritz was 60.
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Canada will be imposing a 25 per cent surtax on select imports of steel and aluminum from China, after unveiling its final list of impacted products on Tuesday.
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An Ahtahkakoop man who came to prominence in Saskatchewan鈥檚 Indigenous business community and helped thousands of First Nations people complete their education died on Friday.
Saskatchewan residents will vote for their next provincial government on Oct. 28.
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Lambton County OPP are investigating a break and enter that occurred in Dawn-Euphemia Township.
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Tributes have started pouring in for a Midland, Ont. man who died after reportedly being struck by an unmarked provincial police vehicle over the weekend.
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Provincial police handed a 22-year-old driver accused of being impaired a lengthy licence suspension after conducting a traffic stop along Highway 400 over the weekend.
A 21-year-old Windsor man is on trial in Superior Court for trying to join a terrorist organization.
New cases of human smuggling along the shores of Canada's southernmost region occur almost daily, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
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David Eby promised to expand financial supports and job protections for sick British Columbians if he wins this month's provincial election, throwing barbs at his main opponent in the process.
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Fire crews in Vernon, B.C., responded to a large house fire early Saturday morning.
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A 40-year-old in Sault Ste. Marie who was on probation has been charged with assault with a weapon following an incident in August.
Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard took the stand in his sexual assault trial on Tuesday, denying that he raped his accuser and painting a dramatically different picture of their encounter eight years ago.
Overnight on Thursday as the community of Elliot Lake was resting to prepare for the upcoming Kraft Hockeyville celebrations, when vandals struck a building that has been top of mind for the northern Ontario city for more than a year.
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A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people鈥檚 basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
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