The US Has a Cloned Sheep Contraband Problem

In September, a man from Montana was sentenced to six months in prison after he trafficked a clone of one of the world’s largest sheep species. Court documents allege that Arthur Schubarth trafficked body parts of a near threatened Marco Polo argali sheep into the US from Kyrgyzstan and in 2015 contracted with a lab to create a cloned sheep he later named Montana Mountain King (MMK). Later, the documents allege, Schubarth used MMK’s semen to impregnate ewes and then sold offspring—each carrying some Marco Polo argali genetics—to people involved in big game hunting.

It’s a weird case. It’s likely only the second time that an American has been prosecuted for a wildlife crime that involved animal cloning. (In 2011 a man was fined $1.5 million and ordered to surrender smuggled deer as well as nearly $1 million of deer semen—which investigators believed he intended to use to clone whitetail deer—in a case that involved the unlawful purchase and transportation of deer.)

There’s another strange element to Schubarth’s story: Potentially dozens of MMK’s descendants may now be at large in the US. These sheep that contain genetics from MMK are defined as contraband in the handful of plea agreements that were signed by men who were alleged to have bought sheep from Schubarth or transported ewes to his ranch in Montana to be impregnated. What isn’t clear is how many sheep are at large, and what exactly has happened to them.

However, legal documents offer some clues. One legal filing in the case against Schubarth alleges that in November 2018 one person transported 26 ewes to Schubarth’s ranch in Montana to be inseminated with MMK semen, and a year later the same person later transported another 48 ewes. In July 2020, the same document alleges, two other people transported another 43 sheep to Schubarth’s ranch. That’s at least several dozen sheep that may have carried MMK’s offspring—and each of those may have had several lambs.

The same document also alleges that one of MMK’s offspring was transported from Minnesota to Schubarth’s ranch in Montana in May 2019. Then in July 2020 Schubarth agreed to sell 11 of MMK’s grandchildren for a total of $13,200 and one of MMK’s children, a sheep called Montana Black Magic, for $10,000. It’s also alleged that Schubarth sold another Marco Polo hybrid sheep to a man who lives in South Dakota.

At least one sheep is accounted for: MMK himself. The sheep had initially been taken to a Zoological Association of America accredited facility in Oregon, says Christina Meister of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Office of Public Affairs. On October 2, MMK was flown across the country to Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York, where he will be housed for the long term. MMK is expected to be on exhibition at the zoo in mid-November, Meister says. (The USFWS declined to answer other questions posed by WIRED.)

The fate of the other sheep is less clear. The four men who have been indicted in these interlinked cases all signed plea agreements that require them to quarantine any sheep in their possession containing Marco Polo argali genetics. The plea agreements also require the men to “abandon all property rights” in the sheep and allow the USFWS to neuter the animals. The men also have to submit autopsy reports to the USFWS when any of the sheep die.

“It was an extremely interesting case,” says Chris Tenoglia, an attorney who represented Michael Ball—a man charged with false labeling of wildlife under the Lacey Act, which prohibits the transportation, trade, and mislabeling of certain species. Ball pleaded guilty to the Lacey Act violation and was ordered to serve one year’s probation and pay a fine of $20,000. Tenoglia says that Ball euthanized the nine sheep in his possession that had been crossbred with the cloned sheep.

“[Ball] is in the animal husbandry and breeding business and he did not want one of the cloned sheep he had to crossbreed with the stock he had on hand, accidentally,” Tenoglia wrote in an email to WIRED. “He was worried that no matter how hard he might try to keep them separated, it might not work, and he did not want to have a problem, assuming that could happen in the future.”

Attorney Carl Jensen represented another defendant, Riley Niewenhuis, who pleaded guilty to a count of trafficking under the Lacey Act. Niewenhuis was sentenced to serve a 12-month term of probation and pay a fine of $20,000. Jensen says that he does not know if Niewenhuis has any of the hybrid sheep in his position, but is sure “he is doing everything to comply with whatever the government required of him.”

A trafficking case that involves animal cloning is extremely unusual, says Monique Sosnowski, a wildlife crime and security analyst at Farmingdale State College in New York state. It raises all kinds of strange questions, she says, like whether a cloned sheep should be considered an endangered or invasive species. According to Tenoglia, one of the government’s worries was that if MMK’s offspring were left to roam in the wild, they could dominate and outcompete native species in the US. When WIRED asked the Department of Justice about this concern, spokesperson Matthew Nies said that the department had nothing to add.

The Schubarth case also raises the question of whether regulations on cloning companies should be tightened to ensure they’re not involved in cloning endangered species. Cloning is catching on, with thousands of dogs, cats, and horses having been cloned in the US already. Legal documents allege that in 2015 Schubarth paid a deposit of $4,200 to enter into a “ovine cloning contract” to clone the Marco Polo argali sheep illegally trafficked into the US.

Blake Russell, president at pet cloning company ViaGen Pets, says his company requires its clients to sign a document stating they have the legal rights to clone from the tissue they’re providing. “If it is something of ‘sensitive’ origin, then we would investigate, and we have many friends in regulatory roles—they can investigate anything suspicious,” Russell wrote in an email to WIRED. The Schubarth case was a “one-off bad deal for all involved. We were not the party involved in the cloning. This case will increase diligence for all of us in the field to make certain that we are not violating any regulations.”

In the meantime, there is still the matter of those hybrid sheep. A fourth man implicated in the Schubarth case was sentenced to three years probation and $25,000 in fines. He has also signed a plea agreement requiring him to quarantine any hybrid sheep in his possession. He is alleged to have bought 12 hybrid Marco Polo argali sheep from Schubarth.

As cloning technology becomes more widespread and cheaper, it’s likely that wildlife law will have to play catch-up, says Sosnowski. There are a lot of exotic species out there that people will be interested in cloning, she says. “I’m sure this is only going to be the first of many cases.”