Conservation groups are asking the federal government to continue keeping a close eye on gray wolf populations as certain states change their policies.

The groups are especially focused on areas throughout the northern Rocky Mountains because states there are aggressively seeking to kill more wolves.

According to the petition filed Tuesday, five groups are seeking an additional five years of monitoring by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The federal agency has been monitoring wolves since they were delisted in 2011, but those efforts are scheduled to sunset in May.

A staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity says wolves are threatened in Idaho because the state advocates killing the species even in remote and unpopulated areas.

The other groups supporting the petition are the Western Watersheds Project, Friends of the Clearwater, Cascadia Wildlands and WildWest Institute.