ARS TECHNICA – An octogenarian rancher named Arthur Schubarth yesterday found himself sentenced to six months in federal prison for cloning a sheep.
Just like computing, cloning technology has come a long way since 1996. And just like computing, cloning has become a service.
You no longer need a lab; today, you can just ship cells off to a company, have them create cloned embryos and store the embryos in a freezer, and then—at a time of your choosing—have the embryos show up in your mailbox for local implantation into a surrogate animal mother.
Arthur Schubarth ran a 215-acre Montana game farm called Sun River Enterprises that specialized in raising mountain sheep and goats. The animals were often sold to game ranches where hunters would track and kill them for sport.
Buyers wanted “trophy” animals, and in the world of big-game sheep hunting—which I have just learned is a thing—the Mountain Polo argali (ovis ammon polii) is the biggest and gamiest.
Argali sheep can grow to 300 pounds, making them the largest sheep in the world, and they have the largest horns of any wild sheep.
If you want to complete an “Ovis World Slam,” you need to embark on a global sheep-slaughtering tour and kill at least 12 wild varieties.
Given their size, argali sheep are one of the most sought, but they live largely in the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Schubarth saw a financial opportunity if he could bring argali sheep to the US to produce larger animals for domestic hunters, but the sheep are listed in the US Endangered Species Act and the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Importing an argali would require CITES paperwork from the host country and Fish and Wildlife permission from the US government …
Yesterday, Schubarth was sentenced to six months in prison along with a $20,000 fine and a $4,000 payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
