Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Sasmita Lenka the female officer from Odisha has been felicitated with United Nation’s Asia Environmental Enforcement Award because of her exceptional work in busting pangolin smuggling rackets in Odisha.
Under the ‘Gender Leadership and Impact’ category, Sasmita who works as the Divisional Forest Officer of Athagarh received the award. She helped in busting an international network of pangolin in Athagarh and also announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for information about suspects.
As per report, Sasmita stated that they have seized pangolins which included a dead one and arrested 28 smugglers. The pangolins were being supplied to China, Vietnam, and Myanmar for black marketing. She also stated that the announcement of cash reward received a huge response as residents across 30 villages reached out with information. This helped them to take action against several criminals.
Furthermore, Sasmita also administered many campaigns to generate awareness amongst the locals about the illegal trade of pangolins which are acknowledged as critically endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species.
Image Source – Google
