Montana rancher was trafficking, cross-breeding wild bighorn sheep, Justice Department says
Bighorn sheep in Glacier National Park in this undated photo. (Hungry Horse News FILE)
A Montana man pleaded guilty March 12 to two felony wildlife crimes – a 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 with an aim to sell the species to captive hunting facilities.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn 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 Schubarth Ranch is 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, the United States Department of Justice said in a release.
According to court documents, Schubarth conspired with at least five other individuals between 2013 and 2021 to create a larger hybrid species of sheep that would garner higher prices from shooting preserves. Schubarth brought parts of the largest sheep in the world, Marco Polo argali sheep (Ovis ammon polii), from Kyrgyzstan into the United States without declaring the importation. Average males can weigh more than 300 pounds with horns that span more than five feet.
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