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Deep-sea predators threatened by bowls of Chinese soupThis month, the eyes of the world are on Beijing and many travelers are experiencing Chinese cuisine for the first time. Among dishes of sea cucumber, scorpion and thousand-year-old egg, one high-profile Chinese delicacy is setting off alarms among environmentalists: shark fin soup. The soup, made from the stringy cartilage found inside shark’s fins, is responsible for the worldwide slaughter of millions of sharks. Hunters often slice the fins off live sharks, and then toss the helpless animals back into the ocean to die, a practice known as finning. |
