I started a discussion internally about devoting some hours to at least
get this off the ground.
Does this spec need a "move" to Bobcat or other planning or acceptance
process to aim for that release instead of Antelope?

The spec does not need to move. We are all set to start development
when someone is ready to work on it.

And I am in no way asking for a fast-lane or special treatment. I would
just like to be able advertise this as:
"If we write the code, someone is going to look at it and helps to get
this merged for Bobcat."

I think that is a fair statement. Just note that others in the
community may not have a lot of time to co-develop on it.

We agreed to pick this up and implement the catalog zone support.
So expect a change to appear for review at some point ;-)

Regards

Christian