If You're Listening The Montana Mountain King and a conspiracy to clone
Oct 6, 2025
Join environment reporter Peter de Kruijff, who uncovered the wild story of 81-year-old Jack Schubarth, sentenced for orchestrating a bizarre cloning conspiracy involving bighorn sheep tissues. Delve into the strange world of trophy game ranching and the lengths people go to, including smuggling genetic material for cloning. Peter also discusses the modern cloning industry, the ethics behind it, and even Barbra Streisand's famous pet cloning experience. Cloning's fascinating implications and challenges are laid bare!
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Rancher’s Trophy Ambition
- Arthur “Jack” Schubarth ran a 200-acre Montana ranch breeding mountain sheep and goats for game ranches.
- He plotted to import Marco Polo sheep tissue to create trophy sheep with enormous horns.
Smuggled Tissue Became Cloned Embryos
- Conspirators fetched tissue from Marco Polo sheep in Kyrgyzstan to smuggle into the U.S. for cloning.
- Labs convert that tissue into embryos, implant them in surrogate ewes and produce a genetically pure Marco Polo sheep.
Surrogates Enable Cross-Species Cloning
- Cloned species can be born via surrogate mothers of related species because of genetic closeness.
- This makes cross-border cloning feasible without transporting live exotic animals.