U.S. Will Cut Off Trade in Wildlife With Thailand : Environment: Washington says Bangkok fails to comply with a treaty protecting endangered species.

The United States will end its $18-million-a-year wildlife and wildlife products trade with Thailand at the end of this month because the Bangkok government has failed to comply with an international treaty controlling trafficking in endangered species, Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. said Tuesday.

U.S. importers are believed to provide the largest single market for Thai wildlife exporters and for Southeast Asian smugglers using the country as a transshipment point for a variety of threatened and endangered species and products such as ivory and jewelry fashioned from the shells of endangered sea turtles.

Although Thailand signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1983, it has failed to adopt legislation to carry out its commitments under the agreement or to submit required information on its trade in wildlife protected by the convention.

Within the last year, the Interior Department said Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has seized illegal Thai shipments including ivory jewelry, sea turtle products, leopard and tiger parts, plus handbags, shoes and belts made from the skins of internationally protected reptiles.

In addition, the country is known to serve as a staging point for the shipment of endangered live animals, including cheetahs, tigers, bears, orangutans and gibbons.

By imposing a ban on all creatures covered by the 111-nation accord, Lujan said, the United States “will protect wildlife by denying a market for illegally taken animals” while “living up to its responsibility as part of the international environmental community.”

“Thailand has been an open door to wildlife smuggling,” said John Fitzgerald, counsel for wildlife policy at Defenders of Wildlife. “This will definitely get their attention.”

The U.S. action comes after similar steps by European nations and during active consideration of trade restrictions by Japan.

Three months ago, the secretariat of the international convention called on all the signatories to the agreement to prohibit further trade with Thailand, charging the country with about 100 specific violations of the international agreement since 1988.

With the nations due to meet to update the pact early next year, the United States in recent months has moved to put pressure on other nations accused of flagrant violations of the accord. After a Washington threat earlier this year, Japan agreed to end extensive and widely criticized trafficking in the shells of endangered sea turtles.

In the face of rising criticism of the international trade in tropical birds exported to Europe and the United States from Africa, Asia and South America, the Dutch airline KLM announced Monday that it is halting the transport of birds caught in the wild. KLM is believed to be the largest shipper of wild birds in the world.

While praising U.S. steps to counteract the Thai wildlife traffic, Fitzgerald said Washington continues to exacerbate the problem by providing financial aid to projects, such as dams, that destroy the habitat of endangered species.