CALGARY, Alberta, March 31 (UPI) -- A Canadian oil sands company now says more than 1,600 ducks died in an oily tailings pond last year, more than three times originally thought.
Syncrude Chief Executive Officer Tom Katinas told reporters Tuesday many of the 1,606 ducks that died drowned when they dove into the pond containing bitumen near Fort McMurray last April, The Globe and Mail in Toronto reported. Initially, the company had said only 500 died.
Katinas said the company has taken several steps this year to prevent a recurrence of what he called an "extremely sad event."
Among the measures is to employ 190 noise cannons -- an increase of 30 percent -- to scare waterfowl attracted to the settling basin's open water.
Katinas said the discrepancy in the death toll was because many of the ducks' carcasses were not visible under the water and floated to the surface after decomposing over subsequent months.
"We felt very badly about 500 in the first place," he said. "I don't believe that as badly as we felt, you could feel three times worse than we did. But we do feel badly."
Syncrude was charged with breaking environmental laws as a result of the duck deaths and could be fined up to $800,000 if convicted.
