Minneapolis is 5 hours from the Canadian border and huge woods. Minnesota has wolves. They even stray as far south as Minneapolis sometimes.

St. Louis is 2 hours from the Shawnee National Forest and 5 hours from the Ozark Mountains. Lots of woods in the Ozarks. There aren't wolves in Missouri, but there are bears and mountains lions, so even if we had wolves, a lot of wolf activity would initially get passed off as a bear or a mountain lion.

Plus St. Louis has the Wild Canid Survival Center for breeding captive red wolves and grey wolves.