Shark fin and chicken soup lands a restaurant in legal trouble, Texas officials say

Texas game wardens scanning the internet spotted a restaurant’s menu offering that caught their eyes: shark fin and shredded chicken soup.

It’s illegal to sell shark fin in the state.

The game wardens went to the restaurant in Harris County and found frozen shark fins in a freezer, according to a news release. During their inspection, the owner led the game wardens to shark fin soup on a stove, telling them it was for personal consumption, officials said. Then a game warden found more shark fin in cellophane inside a freezer.

“The owner again insisted that it was for personal consumption,” officials said.

That’s when a game warden grabbed a menu from a table and pointed to the shark fin soup listed on it, officials said.

The game wardens seized the shark fins and filed charges with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

A spokesperson for the office did not immediately respond to an email Friday from McClatchy News seeking more information on the case.

The state outlawed the sale of shark fin in 2016, according to the Texas Tribune. The ban is part of an effort to end finning, when fins are cut off a live shark before it’s thrown back into the ocean to die, the news outlet reported.

In February, Texas game wardens announced misdemeanor charges against 10 restaurants in the Dallas and Houston areas, accusing them of selling shark fin products.