A pair of conservation groups are asking the federal government to examine what they say are new threats to gray wolves in Idaho and Montana prompted by recently approved state laws allowing hunting and trapping of the animals.

The letter from the Idaho Conservation League and the Endangered Species Coalition cites criteria in the 2009 Northern Rocky Mountain wolf delisting rule that prompt a USFWS status review of gray wolves when changes to wolf management or policy “significantly increase the threat” to the wolf population.

 This past spring, legislatures in Idaho and Montana passed bills that expand use of neck snares, baiting, dogs and other tools to control populations of wolves, which have been blamed for scores of livestock depredations throughout the West.

Related: Wolves from PNW are killing California livestock

“Legislation allowing lethal neck snares, baiting and wolf bounties is excessive, and is out of touch with the way Montanans and Idahoans want to see wolves managed,” said Derek Goldman, Northern Rockies Representative for the Endangered Species Coalition. “With these new, extreme wolf-killing measures, the states are reneging on the management plans they agreed to, and the Service has a duty now to step back in and hold the states accountable.” 

Gray wolves were removed from the federal endangered-species list in a final rule last year, enabling the lower 48 states to manage their populations. President Joe Biden's administration has decided against reinstating protections for the wolves. Conservation groups are challenging the delisting in federal court.

The request from the Idaho Conservation League and Endangered Species Coalition come as attacks on livestock in eastern Oregon this summer prompted state officials to issue kill permits for four wolves.

Related: Colorado sees first gray wolf pups since 1940s

The two groups' Aug. 25 letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildife Service and Department of the Interior requests the immediate issuance of a new “post-delisting monitoring period”—a clause of the Endangered Species Act that requires more stringent oversight of state management for recently-delisted species.

Gray wolves are still protected under state law in California, barring people from killing them or chasing them off their land. Several wolves have wandered into California from the Pacific Northwest and established packs, resulting in more than 20 confirmed depredations since 2015, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildife.