Sean Haasnoot was at his job at the Hansen-Mueller grain elevator on Superior's waterfront Wednesday morning when he noticed three Canada geese that didn't look right.

Instead of the usual black and white feathers, these geese were nearly all black and covered in an oily substance.

"It looked like oil, but I'm not sure what it was,'' Haasnoot told the News Tribune.

Haasnoot and co-worker Adam Lein managed to capture one of the geese in a blanket, but he's not sure what happened to the other two.

"The one we got couldn't fly. It could walk pretty well, but it was covered in the stuff,'' Haasnoot said.

The pair put the captured goose in a box and initially called Duluth-based Wildwoods wildlife rehabilitation center but were redirected to a wildlife crew working for Husky Energy, the company that owns the Superior refinery that suffered multiple explosions and a massive fire on April 26.

"They said they were working for Husky to help any wildlife, cleaning them up,'' Haasnoot said.

Haasnoot said the field where the geese were is near Newton Creek, the stream that flows out of the refinery site and into Hog Island Inlet in the harbor.

"We were thinking that may be how they got down here from the refinery area, in the creek, if they couldn't fly,'' Haasnoot said.

Extensive air and water quality monitoring has been underway since the fire - which sent thick, black smoke from burning asphalt for miles into the air - namely to determine any possible impacts on human health. Less has been discussed about potential impacts on wildlife.

Mel Duvall, the Alberta-based spokesman for Husky Energy, said the company has contracted with Washington state-based Focus Wildlife, a nationally acclaimed wildlife rehabilitation contractor that has been cleaning and releasing animals that come in contact with the oily mess remaining on the ground after the refinery fire one month ago.

"We've cleaned up some areas (of the damaged refinery) we could get at, but there are still areas that are part of the ongoing investigation that have that mixture of oil and asphalt, and there are still animals coming in contact with that,'' Duvall said.

Husky has erected a temporary 8-foot-high fence around part of the area to keep deer out, he said, but birds are still flying into the oily mess.

"They have two mallards and a goose that have been rehabbed and are ready to be released, possibly as early as (Friday)," Duvall said. "There are two other oiled geese that came in this week that they are taking care of ... and a couple of oiled geese reported that we so far haven't been able to capture. They are able to fly."

One deer is being monitored that had oil-covered legs, Duvall said. So far only one bird, a grackle, has been found dead at the refinery.

Duvall said that crews will be deploying a laser light system deterrent to keep wildlife away from the refinery, which he said some animals are attracted to because it remains warm on cool nights. He said crews also are working to keep turtles, frogs and other critters from getting into the contaminated area.