In mid-2019, two years into a withering drought, Ameliah Scott was doing relief cover for the sole full-time vet in Broken Hill, wishing she was back working the boundless farms of the NSW flood plains. She’d flown herself down to the country town at the start of the week in her Piper PA-28 Cherokee Arrow, and though her line of work was normally tough – she once had her teeth knocked out by a frightened cow – the pace at Broken Hill was breakneck. On her very first day, three scheduled surgeries turned into five. By the Friday, she was utterly spent and only managed to eat half a sandwich. Ameliah was cleaning up after performing a caesarean on a bulldog – 11 puppies, one needing frantic resuscitation – when she looked up and saw the receptionist, Maddie, hovering in the doorway. The expression on Maddie’s face told Ameliah her longed-for break was to be deferred.
“I already felt like I was on autopilot with nothing left to give,” Ameliah recalls. But Maddie had a message she could not ignore. “A wildlife carer has just picked up an orphaned joey. The mum was hit by a car.”
Ameliah nodded stoically. On aching feet, she walked to the reception area to greet a woman cradling a pillowcase with a small, soft bump inside. The woman explained
