Sounds like we’ve got ourselves a hickified Dr. Frankenstein out in Montana. A man pleaded guilty and faces a maximum of five years on two felony charges for his experimental genetic engineering of big sheep species to create the biggest specimens of their ilk on the planet.
Yahoo! reported on this absurd scheme that went on for over a decade, masterminded by 80-year-old Arthur “Jack” Schubarth. He’s probably reached the point in his life where he couldn’t care less about the outcome of this whole case, since he profited off it and lived comfortably for such a long time. However, on his 215-acre ranch since 2013, Schubarth engaged in some, well, activities that are morally questionable on an endless variety of levels.
Not that nefarious experimenting on animals is anything new. Nor is it breaking news that somebody might engage in shady deals to make lots of money. That said, this guy went the extra mile and then some, importing Marco Polo sheep tissue from Kyrgyzstan as far back as 2013, per the report. This was significant enough that the Department of Justice delivered its own press release on the matter. Any further information about Schubarth and his illicit activities come form there of the Yahoo! post.
By cloning embryos from the Marco Polo semen and impregnating the ewes with them, Schubarth was able to create the biggest sheep, with the primary objective of selling them to hunting ranches.
The new sheep that Schubarth created carried the name “Montana Mountain King,” abbreviated to MMK. Schubarth sent sheep out of state, sold semen to other U.S.-based breeders, and other similar offenses along with five co-conspirators. Thus, he had no choice but to enter guilty pleas to charges of “conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and substantively violating the Lacey Act.” That law was established in 1900 to, in short, prohibit the sale of illegally obtained wildlife.
It’s just crazy that stuff like this goes on — or maybe, hopefully, Schubarth is a total outlier. H
If Taylor Sheridan is running low on any Yellowstone spin-off ideas, or somebody wants to create a Cocaine Bear-style offshoot of a ridiculous-but-true story, this might be the tale to get it done — no phonetically-similar animal parts pun intended.
