All Creatures
Great + Small
Local veterinarian, James Williams, shares his storybook
journey from Scotland to rural Madison
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSE WALKER
SUMMER 2021 | LAKE OCONEE LIVING 53
STORY BY ANDREA GABLE
Dr. James Williams was fresh out
of the Royal School of Veterinary
Medicine in Edinburgh,
Scotland, when he found himself on
an unusual farm call in upstate New
York.
An emu had injured his middle toe.
The owners had bandaged it, but it
had stayed on too long and formed a
ligature around the wound. Williams
knew the toe had to come off. He
also knew it wasn’t going to happen
during this farm call like the owners
were hoping. The unwieldy and
angry bird would have to be transported
to his clinic to undergo the
amputation.
“That owner literally trussed up that
emu like a Christmas turkey – had
his legs bound up under him and everything
– and carried him into the
clinic,” recalls Williams. “We gassed
him down and took care of his toe.”
It’s a story that could have been
plucked from the pages of “All
Creatures Great and Small,” by James
Herriot – the first in a series of
books Williams grew up reading.
Published in 1972, “All Creatures
Great and Small” chronicles the
adventures of a young vet who joins
a practice in a small village in Yorkshire,
England. Set in the 1930s, the
vet has to navigate the personalities
of his cantankerous new employer
and various stubborn and eccentric
clients to relate heartwarming and
humorous stories to the reader.
“I read all of the books, some of
them many times,” says Williams.
“The beauty of the James Herriot
books is they’re timeless.” The book
spawned sequels, smaller compendiums
from the larger stories, and
subsequently a movie in 1974 and
wildly-popular television series in
1978. Earlier this year, PBS launched
a remake of the original series as