Grassroots conservation campaign led by filmmaker Tom Opre and Shepherds of Wildlife enters the next phase focused on habitat restoration, wildlife stewardship, and public education.

WHITEFISH, Mont., May 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Shepherds of Wildlife Society announced today that Operation Return of the Wild has officially reached its $150,000 fundraising goal, with the final contribution arriving this week and marking a major milestone for the grassroots conservation initiative. Fueled by supporters from across the country, the campaign demonstrated that ordinary people remain deeply committed to wildlife, habitat restoration, and meaningful stewardship. With the initial campaign goal now achieved, the next phase of the project officially begins.

Operation Return of the Wild was launched in support of wildlife restoration and biodiversity recovery efforts in Zambia’s Lower Luano Valley, a rugged and ecologically significant landscape where species such as Cape buffalo and puku antelope were pushed to local extinction after years of unchecked bushmeat poaching. Following nearly a decade of protection, anti-poaching stewardship, and long-term conservation investment by local partners and rural communities, wildlife populations have begun recovering across the region. The initiative was created to support meaningful conservation work while reconnecting people to the landscapes, wildlife, and human realities tied directly to the future of stewardship.

As the campaign enters Phase 2, Shepherds of Wildlife will begin raising support to document and communicate the restoration effort itself — capturing the realities of wildlife recovery, anti-poaching stewardship, biodiversity restoration, and rural conservation as they unfold in the field. Through immersive filmmaking, educational storytelling, and on-the-ground reporting from Zambia’s Lower Luano Valley, the project aims to reconnect the public with the people, wildlife, and landscapes driving one of Africa’s most inspiring conservation recovery efforts. The initiative will help audiences better understand that long-term wildlife conservation depends on stewardship, human participation, and communities willing to protect the resource.

For founder and award-winning filmmaker Tom Opre, the project reflects a larger truth: wildlife rarely survives apart from people. Across the world, healthy ecosystems often exist alongside rural communities whose livelihoods, dignity, and futures remain closely connected to the land and wildlife around them. Long-term conservation succeeds when stewardship, responsibility, and human participation remain part of the equation. At a time when many people feel increasingly disconnected from nature and powerless to help, Operation Return of the Wild demonstrates that meaningful conservation still begins with ordinary individuals willing to become part of something larger than themselves.

“This campaign proved that ordinary people still care deeply about wildlife, biodiversity, and the future of conservation,” said Opre. “What matters now is restoring wildlife, rebuilding biodiversity, and documenting the truth about what real conservation looks like on the ground. Phase 2 gives us the opportunity to honestly document the process while reconnecting people with stewardship, rural communities, and the realities behind wildlife recovery.”

Shepherds of Wildlife Society believes storytelling can inspire a new generation of conservation action. Through documentary filmmaking, education, and grassroots conservation communication, the organization works to elevate human stories from conservation’s front lines while reconnecting audiences with the people, landscapes, and wildlife shaping the future of stewardship.

ABOUT SHEPHERDS OF WILDLIFE SOCIETY

Shepherds of Wildlife Society is a conservation-focused organization founded by award-winning filmmaker Tom Opre. Through documentary storytelling, educational initiatives, and grassroots conservation communication, the organization works to reconnect urban communities with the realities of wildlife stewardship and biodiversity recovery. By highlighting the human stories often missing from modern conservation conversations, Shepherds of Wildlife explores the connection between rural communities, healthy ecosystems, and the future of wildlife conservation. From remote African landscapes to the American West, the organization seeks to inspire a new generation of stewardship rooted in responsibility, human dignity, and the understanding that long-term conservation depends on people willing to protect the resource. www.shepherdsofwildlife.org

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SOURCE Shepherds of Wildlife Society