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Blake, Wm. America a Prophecy, object 9. 1807.

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A Montana man has pleaded guilty to trying to clone a giant hybrid sheep species for trophy hunting.

Arthur Schubarth’s plan involved cloning the world’s largest sheep, the Marco Polo argali, to create a species even more massive. The argali sheep already weigh up to 300 pounds, and they sport on their heads massive, heavy spiraling horns that can span as much as 70 inches.

The scheme, initiated in 2013, illegally used imported argali tissue to produce cloned embryos, which were then bred with other sheep species. From there, on his 215-acre ranch in Montana, Schubarth selectively bred the sheep with ewes from other species to create hybrid sheep bigger than the original Marco Polo argali.

In total, Arthur potentially faces a maximum of five years in prison for each count and a $250,000 fine.

“This was an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies,” said the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.