An 81-year-old Montana has been sentenced to six months in federal prison and ordered to pay $24,000 in penalties for using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the U.S. to illegally create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunts in Texas and Minnesota.
The Lacey Act of 1900 is a conservation law in the United States that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.[1]
Yeah, the description there makes it sound like the issue is just that the source of the tissue wasn’t legal. The quote from the judge makes it sounds like the objection was that he was doing cloning and breeding at all.
Sheep breeds that are not allowed in Montana were brought into the state as part of the conspiracy, including 43 sheep from Texas, prosecutors said.
Dude sold to “trophy hunters” and brought in animals that will outcompete and replace native species.
It’s a pretty big deal ecologically, and was done for just about the worst reasons
And it wasn’t even super unique sheep, it was a couple states away
Also unsure how much “cloning” went into pulling sperm off removed testicles…
In October 2019, court records said, Schubarth paid a hunting guide $400 for the testicles of a trophy-sized Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep that had been harvested in Montana and then extracted and sold the semen, court records said.
Fun!
Still trying to figure out exactly what was wrong about what he did. A linked article says:
“…the defendant violated the Lacey Act that restricts wildlife trafficking and prohibits the sale of falsely labeled wildlife.”
I guess specifically bringing embryos/sperm of a banned animal into Montana, more than the cloning operation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_Act_of_1900
Yeah, the description there makes it sound like the issue is just that the source of the tissue wasn’t legal. The quote from the judge makes it sounds like the objection was that he was doing cloning and breeding at all.
Dude sold to “trophy hunters” and brought in animals that will outcompete and replace native species.
It’s a pretty big deal ecologically, and was done for just about the worst reasons
And it wasn’t even super unique sheep, it was a couple states away
Also unsure how much “cloning” went into pulling sperm off removed testicles…