In this February 2008 photo gray wolves howl at an exhibit area at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minn. After devoting four decades and tens of millions of dollars to saving gray wolves, the federal government wants to get out of the wolf recovery business and leave it to individual states _ and the wolves themselves _ to determine their future. The Obama administration says it will decide by year’s end whether to lift restrictions in the upper Great Lakes and 29 Eastern states. (AP Photo/John Flesher)