Hundreds of illegal shark fins seized at Texas restaurant

Wardens conducting a search last week at a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, discovered 381 whole shark fins and 29.2 pounds of frozen shark fins inside a commercial freezer.

Wardens conducting a search last week at a restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, discovered 381 whole shark fins and an additional 29.2 pounds of frozen shark fins inside a commercial freezer.

Because the case is pending, Texas Game Wardens, of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, did not identify the Bexar County restaurant or its owners in a news release issued Monday.

A K-9 unit assisted in the search of the property. The fins were seized as evidence.

Texas in 2016 joined the list of U.S. states and territories to ban the sale and possession of shark fins.

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Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in some Asian communities. Shark finning entails catching sharks solely for their fins. Fishermen often toss sharks back to die a slow death after their fins have been removed.

By some estimates, more than 70 million sharks are killed annually by shark finning.