In a letter to the village mayor announcing their plan to start the campaign PETA spokeswoman Tanja Breining wrote: "Finning represents animal cruelty of one of the worst varieties.
"It involves cutting the fins from the still living shark and then throwing the animal into the water to die in an extremely painful way." The fins are then used in medicine or made into soup.
The village of Finning in Bavaria in southern Germany is believed to have been named after a man called Finn who started a settlement in the region. But although nothing to do with shark finning, the activists said a decision to change the name would help the protest against the practice.
