Montana Man, 80, Pleads Guilty To Creating Giant Mutant Hybrid Bighorns
A Montana man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges stemming from his creation of giant mutant hybrid bighorn sheep. Wyoming biologists said they don’t want weird mutant hybrid species here.
cowboystatedaily.com
Like something akin to “Jurassic Park,” an 80-year-old Montana man was nailed on federal charges stemming from creating huge hybrid bighorn sheep by using genetic material harvested from Asiatic wild sheep.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two felony wildlife charges, conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and substantively violating the Lacey Act, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Lacey Act prohibits interstate trade in wildlife that has been taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of federal or state law.
Each count that Schubarth faces carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He’s scheduled to be sentenced July 11 in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.
Schubarth and at least five others used genetic material from parts from the world’s largest wild sheep species, Central Asia’s Marco Polo Argali sheep. They used cloning and artificial insemination to create hybrids.
The hybrids were created in hopes that they’d fetch a handsome profit being sold to fenced-in “hunting preserves” in places such as Texas, according to the Department of Justice.
‘Hornography’
Some Wyoming wildlife biologists balked at that kind of manipulation of wild animals for profit.“’Hornography’ in its truest form,” Kevin Monteith told Cowboy State Daily. He’s a biologist with the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming.
Looks like he violated Montana law by buying pieces of them and then violated another Montana law by raising game animals on a livestock ranch.
He imported parts of them without declaring it, and then created a new species of unpermitted sheep. Then they forged veterinary documents to move them across state lines.
It's all pretty involved.....They're going to come at this dude from every angle.
Montana Fish and Wildlife bunny police and the feds are going to love him tenderly.
