Ditto here in MO.
Apparently, some type of large cat was “reintroduced into the area”, without telling anyone they were doing it, and then it was denied by the DNR that there were any cats other than housecats out near the lake area. Worked pretty good until people started catching them in traps.
The folks around here (Western North Dakota) politely listened to the proponents of the Buffalo Commons concept and then politiely asked them to go back to New Jersey where they came from.
That does not stop the desire to implement this crap, not the actual implementation thereof, it just means they have to be sneakier.