Tanner Talan

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to travel to Nepal to experience the diverse cultures and play a role in expanding elephant health. I got the chance to immerse myself within the community of Patan and Kathmandu to get a deeper understanding of the values of the people I worked with. My role was to lead a project to perform surveillance for elephant herpesvirus in Nepal and to meet the wildlife veterinarian at Chitwan National Park to discuss their role in wildlife health and conservation. My experiences spanned from walking through the streets of the Kathmandu valley experiencing the vast temples, to trekking through the jungle to perform treatments on elephants, and navigating the diagnostic laboratory to perform disease surveillance. My experience in Nepal was one that cannot be replaced because it reinforced the notion that to help a community it is better to understand the needs in order to tailor the strength that you can provide.