Documents obtained by CTV News show oil giant Syncrude knew several birds had been landing on its tailings ponds before more than 1,600 ducks were found coated in bitumen.

This comes as a series of employee interviews were entered as evidence at the company trial.

The documents show details from interviews conducted with about 20 Syncrude employees.

And on one page, an e-mail was shown suggesting the company knew about the waterfowl landing on the tailings ponds before the May 2008 incident.

In the e-mail, an employee writes, "expressed my concern at the number of complaints surrounding birds landing in the pond due to a lack of deterrents. The e-mail goes on to say his unit would, "send someone up today to put out a few cannons...and to let the folks know that we are making steps to solve the problem."

That e-mail was dated on April 17, 2008 -- more than a week before the incident.

Employees also say cannons meant to scare the birds away were put out later than normal that year because seasonal staff in charge were hired at a later time than usual. One employee stated he was usually hired for work on April 1st, but that year, he started two weeks later.

Staff also complained that cuts to staff and equipment prevented them from getting deterrents in place in time. It was noted that workers said several employees had retired and had never been replaced in recent years, and that a team of about eight workers only had one vehicle between them.

"If we had more vehicles we could have done more," one employee stated.

Syncrude has entered a not guilty plea to both provincial and federal charges after the animals were found dead inside the toxic pond near Fort McMurray, with officials saying the company did everything in its power to prevent the tragedy.

The oil company is pushing for at least one of the two charges to be dropped, claiming they are too similar in nature.

If Syncrude is found guilty, it could face millions of dollars in fines.

With files from Scott Roberts