Covert rewilding is the secret and illegal translocation of species in the pursuit of conservation objectives. Recent history contains multiple covert rewilding events, frequently occurring after official permission was denied. In order to better understand the phenomenon, I formulate covert rewilding as an optimisation problem, with the goal of creating a population that is too large to be eradicated once it is detected. I then consider a hypothetical covert rewilding of Tasmanian devils Sarcophilus harrisii to the Australian mainland. Three different release locations would allow a covert devil population to remain undetected for years, by which time its size and distribution may preclude eradication. Optimal release locations also represent optimal locations for official surveillance, but a more effective approach to halting covert rewilding could be a more permissive stance towards legal rewilding.

中文翻译：

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隐蔽野化：模拟检测塔斯马尼亚袋獾非官方迁移到澳大利亚大陆的情况

隐蔽野化是为实现保护目标而秘密和非法迁移物种。最近的历史包含多次秘密野化事件，经常在官方许可被拒绝后发生。为了更好地理解这一现象，我将隐蔽再野化表述为一个优化问题，目的是创建一个一旦被检测到就无法根除的种群。然后我考虑对塔斯马尼亚袋獾 Sarcophilus harrisii进行假设的秘密野化到澳大利亚大陆。三个不同的释放地点将使隐蔽的魔鬼种群数年不被发现，届时其规模和分布可能会阻止根除。最佳释放地点也代表了官方监视的最佳地点，但阻止秘密野化的更有效方法可能是对合法野化采取更宽容的立场。