CSI Animal Sharks gana premio.

Crime Scene Wild: Award winner at 2007 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

October 5, 2007

Originally Published by Wildlife Alliance

Crime Scene Wild, a documentary film series featuring Wildlife Alliance co-founder Steve Galster, has won an award at this year’s prestigious Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

Crime Scene Wild’s Sharks episode, in which Wildlife Alliance investigates the global shark fin trade, was judged best film for its efforts to highlight a trade that claims the lives of up to 70 million sharks every year, mainly for the sale of shark fin soup. This follows on an award for Crime Scene Wild's big cats episode at the best conservation film at the 2007 Telenatura film festival in Pamploma, Spain.

The Sharks documentary follows an investigation trail leading from the United States to Central America, Taiwan and China. Wildlife Alliance catches some of the world’s biggest shark fin dealers on hidden camera. These dealers are found to be trading up to 100 tons of fins every month. Some fins came from the highly endangered great white shark. Advanced DNA matching reveals other fins are also from endangered species.

Demand for shark fin soup is stripping our oceans of the species. Crime Scene Wild fully exposes the barbaric practice of shark finning, which leaves the animals unable to swim and slowly bleeding to death. The documentary informs consumers about the true repercussions of the trade and encourages them not to support it.

The full six-part Crime Scene Wild series is airing on Discovery Channel's Animal Planet in Europe, Africa and the Middle East this month, with a worldwide release to follow. Airing in Asia is set for February 2008. In other episodes, Wildlife Alliance investigates the trade in ivory, big cats, shahtoosh wool made from the endangered Tibetan antelope, monkeys and apes, and bears.

The cross-border trade in live and dead wildlife is frighteningly pervasive and organized. Interpol estimates the global illegal trade at more between $10 billion and $20 billion per year - more than any illegal trade other than drugs and guns. Crime Scene Wild highlights the important work of Wildlife Alliance, PeunPa, and other conservation groups to stop the illegal trade and protect endangered species, before they are lost forever.