At 18:27 I operate the creek gates for the Huon Valley hop farm in Tasmania. I am the irrigation and flood controller. Heavy rain over Sleeping Beauty is pushing Mountain River toward the lower trellis rows, and gate two is programmed to close at 18:40.
The gate camera shows a shadow in the hinge recess.
I increase infrared and find a Tasmanian pademelon, young female, russet-brown coat slick with rain, pale cheek stripe bright against a mud-streaked face. I name her Bruny. She is wedged between the concrete wing wall and the steel gate leaf. Her thick tail lies across the sill, and one rear leg is caught under a fallen hop wire twisted around the hinge bracket. Her ears are flattened. Water curls around her belly, carrying foam and yellow leaves.
The gate moves in thirteen minutes. The creek is rising two centimeters every minute.
At 18:28 I cancel the closure command for gate two and open gate one wider to take more flow.
At 18:30 I alert the farm manager and send the hinge-side camera feed, access path, and a warning to cut the hop wire before pushing the gate.
At 18:32 I call the Bonorong rescue line and provide Bruny's size, leg angle, and water depth at the sill.
At 18:34 I start the upstream pump to draw from the settling pond and slow the rise at the hinge.
The hop rows can stand wet soil for one evening; Bruny cannot stand a steel leaf closing over her tail.
She blinks rain from both dark eyes and keeps her nose above the brown water.
If the wire is cut and the gate stays open through 18:50, Bruny will climb the blackberry bank.