GREAT FALLS — Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn was sentenced in federal court in Great Falls on Monday, September 30, 2024 for committing two felony wildlife crimes.
He was convicted on a charge of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, and substantively violating the Lacey Act as part of an almost decade-long effort to create giant sheep hybrids in the United States with an aim to sell the species to captive hunting facilities.
The Lacey Act prohibits interstate trade in wildlife that has been taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of federal or state law. The Lacey Act also prohibits the interstate sale of wildlife that has been falsely labeled.
Schubarth pleaded guilty in federal court in Great Falls on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
On Monday, Schubarth was sentenced to six months in prison.
In addition to the prison sentence, Schubarth was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, and a $4,000 payment to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.
Schubarth, 81 years old, is the owner and operator of Sun River Enterprises LLC – also known as Schubarth Ranch – which is a 215-acre alternative livestock ranch in Vaughn.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the Schubarth Ranch was engaged in the purchase, sale, and breeding of “alternative livestock” such as mountain sheep, mountain goats and various ungulates. The primary market for Schubarth’s livestock is captive hunting operations, also known as shooting preserves or game ranches.
Jesse Laslovich, the US Attorney for the District of Montana, said in a news release: “Schubarth’s criminal conduct is not how Montanans treat our wildlife population. His actions threatened Montana’s native wildlife species for no other reason than he and his co-conspirators wanted to make more money. Schubarth’s greed drove their conspiracy to bring to Montana parts of the largest sheep in the world from Kyrgyzstan. Such actions to create hybrid animals are as unnatural as they are illegal, and I applaud the extensive collaboration and diligence of all of our law enforcement partners to bring Schubarth to justice.”
(FEBRUARY 16, 2024) Arthur "Jack" Schubarth reached a plea agreement earlier this month in federal court for his alleged participation in a sheep-cloning operation.
According to the federal filings against him, Schubarth and his business, Sun River Enterprises in Vaughn, “engaged in the purchase, sale, and breeding of mountain sheep, mountain goats and other ungulates with a primary purpose of marketing and selling live animal and genetic material to captive hunting operations."
In other words, he was cloning sheep.
The sheep in question, however, are not native to Montana or even North America.
Argali or Marco Polo sheep are native to the mountainous West Asian areas of Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and China.
Schubarth is alleged to have worked with other unnamed persons in the U.S. to receive parts of the animals and then create embryos from cloning.
He then manually gathered the DNA from the new male sheep in order to artificially impregnate the females.
The Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act strictly regulate the use and importation of certain animals, including Argali sheep.
The sheep and their DNA were to be sold to game ranches for hunting and money was exchanged, according to the documents.
Schubarth is known in the community as the founder of his namesake pet shop in downtown Great Falls, but the shop itself is not involved in this case. His son and daughter-in-law operated the shop and declined to be interviewed.
