Some people will do anything to make a buck. Or in this case, a ram. A Montana rancher has pleaded guilty to using tissue and testicles obtained from Marco Polo argali sheep to breed giant hybrid sheep for private hunting preserves in Texas, according to the Associated Press.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth appeared before a federal judge this week, pleading guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Schubarth and at least five other people began their foray into creating the monster hybrid in 2013 with the goal to grab “high prices from hunting preserves,” according to court documents. And it was a rather complex plan. Using the biological tissue Schubarth got from a hunter who killed the Marco Polo sheep in Kyrgyzstan, he was able to clone embryos in a lab and then implant them into an ewe that gave birth to a pure Marco Polo argali sheep that Schubert named “Montana Mountain King.” 

From there, he used semen from Montana Mountain King to artificially impregnate other ewes “to create a larger and more valuable species of sheep” with one particular lamb that two people in Texas agreed to buy from him for $10,000, according to the Associated Press.

In 2019, investigators reported that Schubarth paid a hunting guide $400 for the testicles of a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep killed in Montana. He used the semen extracted from the ram to breed larger bighorn sheep to crossbreed with the argali sheep. 

To transport the sheep in and out of Montana, Schubarth and others forged veterinary inspection certificates, claiming the hybrid sheep were a legally permitted species, according to court documents, even though argali sheep are protected under international convention as a threatened species and it’s illegal to import them into Montana to protect native sheep from disease and hybridization.

Schubarth also sold Montana Mountain King’s semen directly to sheep breeders in other states. Others involved in the arrangement included a Minnesota sheep breeder who shipped 74 ewes to Schubarth’s ranch to be artificially inseminated. 

“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 (ENRD). “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.”

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesperson Greg Lemon, “Schubarth’s 215-acre ranch is state-licensed as an alternative livestock facility…[that]…was grandfathered in when the 2000 ballot initiative passed…hunting is prohibited.”

Schubarth will be sentenced on July 11. 

Stay tuned to GOHUNT for further updates.