Kolkata, Sep 22 (IANS): Two Indian forest officials have been selected for the 2016 Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards which honours individuals engaging in exemplary law enforcement actions to protect wildlife, a statement said.

"Range officer Sanjay Dutta of Belakoba Forest Range Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Assistant Conservator Ritesh Sarothiya of Madhya Pradesh State Forest Service have been selected as winners of the Bavin Awards," President Cathy Liss of Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) in Washington, D.C., US, said in an email.

The US-based Species Survival Network, in cooperation with the AWI, coordinates the presentation of the awards.

The ceremony will be held on October 3 at the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The honour is named in memory of Bavin, who was the late Chief of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Law Enforcement.

Bavin had pioneered the highly effective use of covert investigations and 'sting' operations to uncover illegal wildlife trade.

The Bavin Awards recognise the extraordinary efforts that law enforcement officers and other field-based individuals are willing to make in order to protect wildlife.