An oil spill in the Muddy River and Leverett Pond is creating trouble for wildlife in Brookline and Boston, and crews are rushing to protect the animals.
It’s unclear where this oil spill originated from and what caused it to spill into the river, but the focus now is on containing it and helping the wildlife that have already been impacted by it.
New England Wildlife collected about 15-20 affected Canadian geese and ducks covered in the oil. They're working to clean them up and rehabilitate them.
“The issue with the oil spill especially right now where it's very cold outside is the oil messes up their waterproofing and exposes them to the elements," said Jane Newhouse, founder of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue.
Clean Harbors environmental cleanup crews were back at the site of the oil spill on Monday checking on booms and absorbent materials that were deployed over the weekend.
The outfall where the oil was discovered sits across from the Brook House Condos, which the Brookline Department of Public Works identified as the source of a similar spill two years ago.
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But residents say the owners spent more than a million dollars removing the old tanks, so they believe it’s got to be coming from somewhere else.
“It seems that there’s some type of backwash from some unknown source, and it smells terrible," said Tim Taylor, who lives nearby.
Sharmo Sarkar, another local resident, said, “I think we have to be careful about how do we preserve the natural habitats around these places.”
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Emergency Response Team was on site Sunday night as well. Their experts say the spill appears to be home heating oil and it’s likely less than 100 gallons that spilled.
“They showed me the storm drain outfall location where it appeared like a home heating oil was being released from the outfall," Max Scott with Massachusetts DEP Emergency Response said. "We investigated different drain management holes around the area and we’re unable to find the source so far but we’re still investigating that.”
But people who live near the waterways and walk here daily say this is not a new problem.
“Everyone who walks here is aware of it, this isn’t anything new,” Taylor said.
Environmental and wildlife experts will be back here over the coming days to check on wildlife and replace absorbent materials as needed.
