Michelle Oakley

Background

She has demonstrated an outgoing personality and a strong desire to create good breeding and living conditions for wild and domestic animals throughout her life. Michelle Oakley was born in Munster, Indiana, on September 16, 1969. She is of Caucasian heritage and was born to Steve and Georgia Plantinga. She would always go to her uncle’s dairy farm in Indiana throughout the summer. Dr. Jane Goodall, an English primatologist and anthropologist, was her idol when she was 11 years old. Dr. Oakley used to enjoy watching her on T.V. and admired her passion for animal welfare. She graduated from the University of Michigan with an undergraduate degree in zoology. While studying there, she went to the Yukon for the first time as a field assistant on an arctic ground squirrel ecological study. She met and fell in love with local wildland firefighter, Shane Oakley, on that trip, who kept calling her ‘squirrel girl.’ She received her doctorate in veterinary medicine from Atlantic Veterinary College in 2000 after marrying Shane and worked for Yukon Fish & Wildlife for nine years as a wildlife veterinarian and regional biologist. Dr. Oakley also interned at the Calgary Zoo, where she now volunteers as a relief veterinarian.

Being the only all-species vet for hundreds of miles in the Yukon Territory in Northern Canada, no two days are ever the same for Dr. Oakley. She could be darting bison with a helicopter, stalking wolverines in the wild, performing surgery on a bear, or facing any number of new difficulties with the incredible wildlife of the north. Animals, both wild and domestic, are extremely important to the Yukoners, and Dr. Oakley will go to great lengths to ensure their safety and well-being. “Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet” on Nat Geo WILD and N.B.C’s Saturday morning series “Wilderness Vet” introduces viewers to Dr. Oakley’s world. She drives hundreds of miles a day through snowy mountain passes in harsh weather, dedicated to her clients and assisting local animals. The majority of her clients live off the grid, with no access to electricity or running water. Dr. Oakley conducts her own mixed practice throughout Northern Canada and Alaska, in addition to the clinic she runs out of her home in southwest Yukon, with the support of her three daughters, who also feature on her T.V. show regularly. She also volunteers at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and the American Bald Eagle Foundation as an on-call veterinarian. She is in charge of specialized wildlife collection and conservation operations in Canada, as well as Scandinavia, Sri Lanka, and Europe.

Dr. Oakley and her husband tied the knot on December 10, 1992, in Hawaii. The couple is blessed with three daughters, namely: Sierra Oakley, Maya Oakley, and Willow Oakley, born in 1998, 1999, and 2005, respectively.