Wolf advocates have temporarily withdrawn but plan to refile a petition next week seeking stricter rules on when Washington wildlife managers kill wolves to protect livestock.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission was scheduled to discuss a petition filed in July on Friday. Wolf advocates withdrew the petition Tuesday.

The commission has two months to consider petitions for new rules. Resetting the clock will give the commission more time to decide, Washington Wildlife First Board President Claire Loebs Davis said.

“It was a timing consideration,” she said.

Wolf advocates have long sought to curb the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s use of lethal control to stop wolf packs from attacking livestock.

The department’s practices, based on guidance from its Wolf Advisory Group and the judgments of wildlife managers and department Director Kelly Susewind, have withstood several court challenges.

Wolf advocates and Gov. Jay Inslee have previously sought a rule binding on the department. The commission voted 5-4 a year ago to not adopt a rule.

Since then, two of the five commissioners who opposed any binding rule have been replaced by new Inslee-appointed commissioners.

Wolf advocates are proposing stricter rules that include prohibiting the department from killing wolves on public lands. Much of the grazing land in wolf-saturated northeast Washington is publicly owned.

The commission can direct the department to write a rule, but it could be different from what wolf advocates propose.

“We are under no illusion our rule will be adopted verbatim,” Davis said.