It's not unusual for veterinarian Sam Young to give ear drops to a dingo, file down the overgrown shell of an African tortoise and check the teeth of a Sumatran tiger within the space of a few hours.
As Mogo Zoo's sole on-site vet, Dr Young oversees the health and well-being of about 350 wild animals in captivity, ranging from small primates such as lemurs and pygmy marmosets, to big cats like white lions and snow leopards.
It's a far cry from the domestic animals she treated for several years after graduating with a degree in veterinary science from the University of Sydney a decade ago.
In her desire for a walk on the wild side, she took up a residency in wildlife and zoo medicine at Melbourne Zoo and completed a PhD in amphibian diseases while working at a zoo in Cairns, before she moved to NSW four years ago.
January is the popular south coast zoo's busiest month, and last week staff including Dr Young juggled the influx of tourists with looking after the property's main attractions.
Early one afternoon, Dr Young looked in on Mitchell, a male dingo who is recovering from a middle-ear infection and needs ear drops.
"He has been on treatment for a while, so we're just checking him out."
She also has to give the rest of the zoo's dingo family their monthly heartworm tablets. They don't like to chew on them, so Dr Young has to grab their toothy jaws and pop the medication down the back of their throats.
Next stop is Barry, an eight-kilogram African radiated tortoise whose striking patterned shell had cut into the skin on his legs.
"He's a little bit overweight and his shell edges got a bit sharp, so we filed them down," Dr Young said.
"We're going to put some padding and dressing on the offending bits and then we'll put some anti-inflammatory cream on the leg wounds as well."
A typical day for Dr Young starts with early-morning health checks, followed by surgical procedures if any.
In the afternoons, those animals need to be taken back to their enclosures before Dr Young will focus on preventive medicine, such as calculating and reviewing the animals' diets.
"Every animal on the property, except the giraffe because they're high risk with anaesthetic, gets a full health check every 12 to 24 months.
"We get blood, check their organs are working well and do a dental check so we can pick up any diseases early.
"Dental checks are very important because the animals live longer in captivity so they tend to get more dental problems and other degenerative diseases like arthritis."
What makes Dr Young's job even harder is that unlike domestic creatures, most zoo animals, particularly the predators such as lions and tigers, would never let on if they were in pain.
"Even though they're in captivity, they're wild animals so they don't show signs of weakness until they've got absolutely no choice, and by that stage they can be quite sick."
Euthanising old or sick animals, which Dr Young said became like "your extended animal family", was one of the toughest aspects of her job. But it was also an enormous privilege, she said.
It was the challenges that came with treating such a diverse range of animals that she said kept her interested in her work.
"With the range of species, there might not be a lot written in the literature about their diseases or even specific anatomy so it's really about going back to basics.
"I'm rarely seeing the same thing twice on the same day and I'm using all my training on a daily basis."
