My point exactly.
I saw a timberwolf a few years ago driving back from the UP. And people had been sighting them off and on for years up there. Hadn't heard about the cats though. Supposedly some doofus accidentally let his russian boars get out of the fence of their game preserve and now they have boars too. Nasty buggers. For now the DNR isn't saying anything one way or the other about whether it's legal to shoot them on sight. So people hopefully are.
They are there, and they are protected as well, although they aren't flourishing there, from what I've heard. They have to compete with black bears(which are more common) for food.
And people had been sighting them off and on for years up there. Hadn't heard about the cats though.
I've heard cougars have been seen up North. I've never seen one. Don't want to either. I have seen bears(Near Waters), which are extending their range southward.