image credit Sustainablepublic.com Workers attempt to rescue a duck covered in oil at Golden Gate National Recreation Area

The full impact of a massive 58,000 gallon oil spill in the San Francisco Bay began to settle in on residents today, as oil polluted bay waters, crippled, sickened, and killed wildlife, and fouled the air with a noxious odor.

Workmen toiled all around the Bay Area digging oil drenched sand and disposing of it in thick plastic bags. Other workers laid oil attracting spongelike booms along beaches, inlets, and waterways in a desperate, and sometimes futile effort, to isolate and clean up the massive oil slick dumped into bay waters on Tuesday.

Oil slick floats around the Golden Gate Bridge, hugging the shoreline of the Marin Headlands

As the oil spread, several Bay Area beaches were coated with the thick slimy substance. Globs of oil, forming masses of tar, oozed onto beaches, rocks, and dock moorings.

Clean up workers inspect thick trails of oil on the sand at Rodeo beach in Marin (shown above)

Bulldozers were used to corral pools of oil, and to block channels and impede normal water flow in order to contain the spill.

Wild birds, seals, dolphins, and all manner of sea life were affected. Rescue workers from the Marine Mammal Center, University of California at Davis, and state and federal agencies all labored throughout the day to assist oil covered animals and help them survive the trauma. However, several animals died, and many more are expected to be coated by the oil during the night. Several observers noticed seals and birds, having realized the toxic contamination present, attempting to stay out of the water as much as possible. Unfortunately, many had already learned the hard way that swimming in the ocean waters was toxic and potentially deadly at this point in time.

Rescuers prepare a bird for transport. Several of the recovered birds were dead when they were discovered.