US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting

[babylonsister]

US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting
Arthur Schubarth of Montana used tissue and testicles from Marco Polo sheep to clone animal and create hybrid
Associated Press
Tue 1 Oct 2024 08.41 EDT


An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

The US district court judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the Earth.

Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a $4,000 payment to the US Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Schubarth will be allowed to self-report to a federal bureau of prisons medical facility.

“I will have to work the rest of my life to repair everything I’ve done,” Schubarth told the judge just before sentencing.

more...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/01/sheep-cloning-montana-hunting-prison

[hlthe2b]

1. Sick. Sheep are, well sheep... They are naturally so passive that it would be like hunting a stuffed animal.

Maybe he should be the one hunted... (no, I am NOT serious... just angry).

[fargone]

5. These are not domestic sheep

The Marco Polo is an Asian species of wild sheep similar to the North American wild big horn sheep only larger.

[hlthe2b]

6. Do you defend this?

[fargone]

7. This is bizarre

I merely stated the fact that these are not passive stuffed animals as the previous poster suggeted. They are a wild species that is banned from import into the US presumably because there is both the risk of bringing in diseases and parasites and the risk they could crossbreed with native big horns. So what he did was illegal even before he started his cloning project. I don't hunt but I am aware that big horn sheep are hunted. The perpetrator was trying to create an oversized big horn look alike that could be shot by the idiots who get off on shooting captive animals so they could brag to their buddies that they got the biggest "big horn". Nobody does DNA tests on mounted trophies.

[hlthe2b]

8. I just asked a question. So, you do not, I gather. Good.

[Fullduplexxx]

2. I find it weird that this is against the law

E

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. You want to play god and mess with ecosystems? Many examples of messing with species creating damage

* Introduction of rabbits in Australia
* Eradication of wolves in many jurisdictions

At the least it messes with ecosystems.

It may also replace native species with hybrids and/or invasive species.

Could create reservoirs for harmful diseases that irregularly get released into wider ecosystems, like bird flu for example.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Let's not forget kudzu, giant pigweed, even honeysuckle.

Zebra mussels, snakehead fish, Asian carp ...

Just too many examples.

[intheflow]

4. Agreed.

It's certainly a weird and reprehensible thing to do, but it sounds like other kinds of animal husbandry and cross-breeding that's been done with domestic animals for centuries.

[Fullduplexxx]

9. It's how we got corgis from wolves