My bro in law used to be the Commander of the National Guard base in Utah. Several years back they trapped a lion, tagged it and put a tracking device on it. They then turned it loose and just watched. If you know what Utah looks like they were shocked at where this lion went. It went from Camp Williams, crossed I-15, went through Lehi, American Fork, into Lindon and Orem. Went through allies, backyards, down streets, along canals, etc. It then went onto the base of Mnt Timpanogos and followed the base of that mountain back to Camp Williams. Literally this lion went through backyards, etc. They checked missing animals, no way to prove it but they did find that a number of cats and dogs were reported missing over this one week galavant.
This almost makes your point, that coexisting with lions is going to be fine. They also noted that not a single person reported a lion roaming the neighborhood. Is this replicatable out East? There are stories of lions killing people, even though the environmentalists deny it. The East has nothing even close to open space that Utah has. maybe its fine but...
One thing is for sure. If a State out East decided they wanted a number of lions, Utah would likely volunteer no problem. Utah has more lions per square mile then any other place in North America. They eat and kill between 30-50 deer a year. Help clean up some White Tail out East.
If they want them...
Boo