Ewe-nique endeavor aimed to create Jurassic Baaa-rk experience for hunters
Arthur"Jack" Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana, runs Schubarth Ranch. The business purchases and breeds various ungulates, which are then sold to captive hunting operations – aka shooting sheep in a barrel., between 2013 and 2021 Schubarth embarked on a conspiracy to engineer a hybrid species of sheep that he believed could fetch a higher price from shooting preserves.
However, they are also protected internationally by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, domestically by the US Endangered Species Act, and are prohibited in the State of Montana to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization. Sperm was then taken from this gigasheep to artificially impregnate varying species of ewes on the ranch – all of which were prohibited in Montana, the DoJ says – to create hybrid Frankensheep.
"This was an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies," said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division."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.