Northwest Indiana’s animal expert-turned-Alaskan TV star is escaping snow and cold to spend her Thanksgiving in Costa Rica with family on a rescue mission for sloths.

“I’m flying to Costa Rica with my daughter Willow to a wildlife center called Toucan Rescue Ranch where I’ve helped before, and we’re going to be helping sloths this Thanksgiving because they face attacks by stray dogs, and are hit by cars and also the victims of bad burns when they climb electrical poles and touch the electrical wires,” said Dr. Michelle Oakley, star of her hit cable National Geographic Channel series “Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet,” which launched its 10th season last month.

Oakley, a 1987 graduate of Munster High School, launched her reality TV career with the series in Spring 2014 and now all of the previous seasons are available on the Disney+ platform with new episodes airing on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. on the NAT Geo Wild network.

While rarely seen, Michelle’s firefighter husband Shane Oakley, is behind the scenes at her side, with their three daughters, Willow, Maya and Sierra.

“After 10 seasons, viewers have grown up with my family,” Oakley said.

“Willow, my youngest was 8 years old when the show started and now she’s 17 and a senior in high school. Of my three girls, by her own choice, she hasn’t been seen as much on these later seasons because she was busy with school and couldn’t travel with me. Older daughter Maya, 22, who graduated from university last year and our oldest daughter, Sierra, 24, not only has graduated from her university, but this month, she announced she is applying to veterinarian school.”

Dr. Oakley’s other exciting news is she is lending her name and reputation to a “Dr. Oakley” animal product line with the new brand just eight months away from launching.

“I want this new food line to help animals with better nutrition, especially as a way to combat the allergies which so many pets face these days,” Oakley said.

“And the most exciting part of all of this is we are setting up a foundation, much like Paul Newman did with his ‘Newman’s Own,’ so that all profits go to support our wildlife rescue efforts we’re doing worldwide.”

Oakley said when she assisted with animal rescues “down under” during the Australian wildfires in January 2020, it was the generosity of others which funded her rescue mission from efforts that ranged from a staggering Go Fund Me campaign to donated plane travel miles.

Last month, Oakley found herself in the middle of the Oct. 2 California oil spill of an estimated 25,000 gallons of oil draining into the San Pedro Channel from a leak was caused by a ship’s anchor rupturing the pipeline that runs from an oil processing platform off Huntington Beach to the Port of Long Beach.

“I happened to be flying in to the Huntington Beach area to visit my brother Scott, and that’s when his son Dylan, who is really into marine biology and studying it at his university, told me about the oil spill right on their beach. So I volunteered to help with the birds, seals and sea lions affected,” Oakley said.

“And yes, Dawn dish detergent continues to be the best product to use for these spills, which was something that was first discovered for this use during that terrible 1989 Alaskan oil spill at Prince William Sound. However, once the detergent is used to remove the spilled oil from feathers, these birds need time for their own natural oils to return before they are released.”

Though Oakley’s father Steve died in November 2018, her mother Georgia Plantinga still lives in Schererville and stays busy working as a successful real estate agent.

As for her established fame, Oakley said her new favorite social media to connect with others is TikTok and she laughs at any rumors of her “dancing anytime soon” on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

“Me doing ‘Dancing with the Stars’ would be hilarious and those folks would have their work cut out for them,” Oakley said.

“I’d be on that ballroom dance floor in my extra big rubber boots, and that would be interesting to see them try to teach me to dance.”

Legendary free concert

The Kinsey Brothers, vocalist and guitarist Donald, drummer and vocalist Ralph and bassist and vocalist Kenneth are performing one free concert 9 p.m. Friday at the new Hard Rock Casino in Gary.

The trio, who continue to have Northwest Indiana roots, enjoyed enormous success throughout the ’80s and ’90s recording and touring first with their late father, Lester “Big Daddy” Kinsey and the Kinsey Report, and later on their own. Donald is hailed as a phenomenal guitarist who toured with the Rolling Stones for a few years and also played with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Call 219-228-2383 or www.hardrockcasinonorthernindiana.com for details

Philip Potempa is a journalist, author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center.

pmpotempa@comhs.org