Bhubaneswar: Bringing cheers to the people of Odisha, senior forest officer (DFO) Sasmita Lenka has been shortlisted to receive the United Nations (UN) Asia Environmental Enforcement Award, under ‘Gender Leadership and Impact’ category.
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The lady DFO will be presented the coveted international award for her notable work in busting pangolin smuggling rackets in Odisha. She will be awarded at a virtual event February 17.
“We had seized three pangolins including a dead one and arrested 28 smugglers. The pangolins were being supplied to China, Vietnam and Myanmar for black marketing…I’m glad my work was noticed, which will only stop when pangolin is saved from extinction,” Lenka said.
Notably, the lady DFO and her team had busted an international pangolin smuggling racket in December 2019 and arrested eight suspects. She had also recovered a huge cache of pangolin scales.
Pangolins are considered as critically endangered species on the IUCN red list of animals. In an effort to curb smuggling of pangolins within her forest division, she had announced a cash reward of Rs 10,000 to locals for providing information on pangolin traffickers.
PNN