US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting • Hacker News Board

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#11

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 2:55 PM UTC

high_na_euv wrote: post #5

>District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence, but had to deter anyone else from trying to "change the genetic makeup of the creatures" on the planet. Whatever the judge is feeling today, huh?

My experience with jury duty this week has reinforced the fact that judges are humans, just like the rest of us, for better or for worse.

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#12

Post by foxyv » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 2:59 PM UTC

worthless-trash wrote: post #9

I'm even confused about hunting sheep. Modern domestic sheep are not much of a challenge.

Their cousins in the wild are extremely challenging to hunt. Especially since they are pretty rare and range across massive areas. Hybridization is one method of causing a species to become functionally extinct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bighorn_sheep

https://www.montana.edu/screel/teaching/bioe-440r-521/docume...

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#13

Post by rtkwe » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 3:40 PM UTC

worthless-trash wrote: post #9

I'm even confused about hunting sheep. Modern domestic sheep are not much of a challenge.

These are wild sheep not the domesticated sheep check out the picture at the beginning of the article. The difficulty is in finding them most of the time and getting close enough to shoot them ethically. A failed hunt is basically a long back country hiking vacation, a successful one isn't much different it just includes a shoot, some basic butchery, and a hike back out with even more weight.

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#14

Post by ChrisArchitect » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 3:49 PM UTC

[dupe]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41711992

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#15

Post by mbfg » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 4:19 PM UTC

To me the real infraction was the potential for causing disease in the native population. The rest, while morally dubious, doesn't feel like it's illegal.

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#16

Post by neuronexmachina » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 4:39 PM UTC

kenmacd wrote: post #4

I read the article, but I'm still not sure what part was illegal, and why. It says that part of the law is 'prevent the creation of hybrids', and the sentence was to 'deter anyone else from trying to "change the genetic makeup of the creatures"'... but isn't that way every animal breeder does? I get the importation of body parts of endangered animals being illegal. If it's just a sentence for that then I get it. But…

You can see a list of what he pled guilty to here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/montana-man-pleads-guilty-fed...

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#17

Post by autoexec » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 4:52 PM UTC

worthless-trash wrote: post #9

I'm even confused about hunting sheep. Modern domestic sheep are not much of a challenge.

Very few animals are any kind of challenge against modern firearms.

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#18

Post by olddustytrail » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:05 PM UTC

high_na_euv wrote: post #5

>District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence, but had to deter anyone else from trying to "change the genetic makeup of the creatures" on the planet. Whatever the judge is feeling today, huh?

That's literally the opposite of what the judge said. How did you translate "I struggled to find the correct solution" to "I just went with whatever"?

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#19

Post by nozzlegear » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:06 PM UTC

high_na_euv wrote: post #5

>District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence, but had to deter anyone else from trying to "change the genetic makeup of the creatures" on the planet. Whatever the judge is feeling today, huh?

If someone breaks the law, but the judge can't find fitting a sentence, is it justice for them to not be sentenced at all? Change the crime to something like robbery, extortion, murder, etc.

(This is just a rhetorical question.)

Re: US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

#20

Post by nozzlegear » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:11 PM UTC

alex7734 wrote: post #8

high_na_euv wrote: post #5

>District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence, but had to deter anyone else from trying to "change the genetic makeup of the creatures" on the planet. Whatever the judge is feeling today, huh?

I don't know what you did wrong, but don't worry, I can be very creative

They do know what he did wrong: a conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and substantively violating the Lacey Act. He pleaded guilty to both charges.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/montana-man-sentenced-federal...