In four decades as a veterinarian, Sammons confronted enough situations like this to fill a book. So that’s exactly what he did, self-publishing “So You Want to be a Veterinarian; And Funny Vet Stories” not long after returning to Beaufort in 2000. Sammons thought he would retire when he came back to his childhood home from Florida, but Dr. Jim Holden of Sea Island Animal Hospital learned of Sammons’ relocation plans and talked him into joining the staff.

Seventeen years later, at age 77, Sammons still works there on Saturdays. He also is active in the local chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Sons of the American Revolution, and he is on the board of the Nemours Wildlife Foundation. It’s a fitting return for Sammons. As a youngster, his love of animals flourished in Beaufort, where he kept snakes, squirrels and raccoons in his bedroom, much to his mother’s chagrin. He didn’t think he could make a living caring for animals, however. So after graduating from Beaufort High School in 1958, Sammons earned a mechanical engineering degree at Georgia Tech, then became a Navy fighter pilot. He flew 58 missions over Vietnam and made 330 carrier landings in his A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bomber.

After the military Sammons worked four years as an aerospace engineer in Florida, but then decided veterinary medicine was indeed his true calling. He earned an animal science degree at the University of Florida and hoped to attend veterinary school at Auburn University. With his background, Sammons thought he’d be a shoo-in for admission, but his first application was denied. The college’s dean told him he would stand a better chance next time around if he had farm experience. So Sammons worked about six months on a chicken farm, feeding and cleaning up after 60,000 hens and chicks, and flinging their manure across a watermelon patch. His wife and his daughters, Sam and Holly, lived with him in a ramshackle, single-wide trailer provided by his employer.

Believing he needed to work with larger animals to get into Auburn, he got a job at the University of Florida’s Beef Cattle Research Unit. On his first day, he arrived to find dejected co-workers — the center’s director had suffered a heart attack and would not be able to return. Sammons had no experience managing a herd or riding cutting horses, but he did have an animal-sciences degree. So he was put in charge.

The experience he gained after that instant promotion was his ticket into Auburn. His veterinary career was launched. “It sure has been a fun life,” Sammons says of his wide-ranging experiences, noting how the pieces of his life always seem to fall into place despite every turn and predicament. Take that panther regaining consciousness in the back of his stationwagon: Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Sammons drove about 20 mph through the pop-up thunderstorm, reaching the hospital parking lot just as the cat tried to stand. He fetched a syringe from his office and sedated the panther just in the nick of time. Whether they’re landing fighter jets on aircraft carriers, thrust into jobs with little preparation or chauffeuring sharp claws, “God just looks after fools, I guess,” Sammons quips.