Wildlife advocates are planning news conferences and rallies Thursday in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona to call out state leaders for trying to keep their lands out of a potential recovery zone for the Mexican gray wolf.
Kirk Robinson of Western Wildlife Conservancy says government leaders in the four Western states are spreading inaccuracies.
Utah's wildlife board recently sent a letter to the Department of the Interior arguing scientific research shows wolves have never lived north of Interstate 40, which runs through New Mexico and Arizona. The board said trying to lure the wolves to Utah would harm the species because they would hybridize with Northern gray wolves.
Governors from the four states sent a similar letter in November.
The Mexican wolf, a smaller subspecies of the gray wolf, is an endangered species.