"The way the federal agents swarmed Jack Schubarth's ranch in Montana on a late-spring day in 2021, it seemed they could have been taking down an anti-government militia. It was a dry morning when Schubarth, an 82-year-old whose family owns a small-town pet store, first heard the helicopter buzzing overhead. Then came around 60 federal agents and state officers, racing out of a fleet of black vans. They searched the property, found 15 guns, and piled them on Schubarth's bed."
"Specifically, they were there for a Marco Polo argali he called the "Montana Mountain King," or MMK for short. At the time of the raid, MMK was on his way to becoming the biggest horned ram in America. His muscular legs were capable of carrying him at speeds over 30 mph in mountain terrain; his spiraling horns were predicted to grow to the length of a piano."
"In September 2024, Schubarth pleaded guilty to smuggling in the genetic material that he used to make MMK and later selling the cloned sheep's offspring to other ranchers; he was sentenced to six months in a federal prison for violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits trafficking illegally sourced wildlife. Argali, it turns out, were also specifically prohibited in the State of Montana, meaning he'd broken state law, too."
Federal and state agents executed a large raid on Jack Schubarth's Montana ranch in 2021, searching for a Marco Polo argali nicknamed the Montana Mountain King (MMK). MMK was a cloned argali being raised on the ranch and showed potential to become the largest horned ram in America. Agents tranquilized and seized MMK and also found firearms during the search. Schubarth smuggled genetic material to create MMK and later sold cloned offspring to other ranchers. He pleaded guilty in September 2024 to violating the Lacey Act and received a six-month federal prison sentence; argali were also prohibited under Montana law.
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