OPERATION RETURN OF THE WILD TO DOCUMENT MAJOR WILDLIFE RESTORATION EFFORT IN ZAMBIA

Award-winning filmmaker Tom Opre and Shepherds of Wildlife Society will capture the return of Cape buffalo and Puku antelope to Zambia's Lower Luano Valley after years of devastating poaching losses WHITEFISH, Mont. , May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Shepherds of Wildlife Society announced today that award-winning filmmaker Tom Opre will return to Zambia this summer to begin filming Operation Return of the Wild, a new documentary project following one of the most meaningful wildlife restoration efforts now unfolding in the Lower Luano Valley. The project will document the relocation and return of Cape buffalo and Puku antelope to a landscape where criminal bushmeat poaching once devastated wildlife populations and pushed multiple species toward local extinction. The restoration effort represents a rare opportunity to capture conservation in real time: not as theory, politics, or slogans, but as people working on the ground to bring wildlife back. Operation Return of the Wild will follow the enormous logistical effort behind restoring these animals to the Lower Luano, including capture, veterinary work, transport, release, and the ongoing stewardship required to give wildlife a future in a region that was once stripped by illegal poaching. The film will also tell the human story behind the restoration: local communities, conservation professionals, wildlife authorities, and land stewards working to rebuild biodiversity and protect the resource for future generations. For Opre, the project is deeply personal. A decade ago, he filmed Killing the ... Full story available on Benzinga.com
2026-05-28 16:32:00