How newlyweds Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell were forced to cancel their honeymoon to help with Australia Zoo’s $400,000 weekly payroll crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic
Newlyweds Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell were forced to cancel their honeymoon in March as the coronavirus pandemic threatened their family financially.
One day after their wedding, the family held crisis talks to discuss how to keep their business, Australia Zoo, afloat, on ‘skeleton staffing’.
In an Animal Planet special set to air in August, titled Crikey! It’s the Irwins: Life in Lockdown, the couple will discuss how they addressed the zoo’s $400,000-per-week payroll problem.
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Newlyweds Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell (left) were forced to cancel their honeymoon in March to help with Australia Zoo’s financial woes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured with Terri and Robert Irwin at Australia Zoo
In a trailer for the upcoming TV special, Bindi’s mother, Terri Irwin, addresses the problems Australia Zoo is facing because of COVID-19.
She says the zoo’s typical weekly payroll totals $400,000, which accounts for 52 per cent of the business’ income.
‘The pandemic has severely affected Australia Zoo financially… I can’t even come close to paying bills. We’re having to stand down staff and it’s very emotional,’ Terri says.
‘I can’t even come close to paying bills’: Terri Irwin (left) claimed they had to stand down staff at Australia Zoo as they struggled financially with the zoo’s usual $400,000 weekly payroll
At-home honeymoon: Bindi and Chandler forfeited their honeymoon plans to help keep Australia Zoo operational on ‘skeleton staff’. Pictured: Bindi and Chandler on their wedding day at Australia Zoo on March 25
Bindi and Chandler go on to explain how they forfeited their honeymoon plans to keep the zoo operational on ‘skeleton staff’.
‘We had originally planned to do a road trip for our honeymoon,’ Bindi says, adding that she and Chandler agreed to instead stay at the compound and look after their 1,200 animals.
The Crikey! It’s the Irwins special will document the family’s time in lockdown at the Sunshine Coast tourist attraction.
‘We had originally planned to do a road trip for our honeymoon’: Bindi and Chandler spent their honeymoon in lockdown at the Queensland zoo tending to 1,200 animals
‘Our honeymoon may not have turned out as we’d planned, but we’re grateful to be spending time with our beautiful animals,’ Bindi wrote on Instagram in May.
‘Things are incredibly busy here while we’re temporarily not open. We’re all working together to make sure our animal family is happy,’ she added at the time.
Australia Zoo reopened to the public with social distancing measures in place earlier this month, on June 12.
On March 25, Bindi and Chandler had made the ‘difficult decision’ to host their wedding at Australia Zoo without guests due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The ceremony was filmed for Animal Planet and aired in the U.S. in April.
Crikey! It’s the Irwins: Life in Lockdown will air on Foxtel’s Animal Planet on Saturday, August 1 from 7:30pm
Tune in: Crikey! It’s the Irwins: Life in Lockdown will air on Foxtel’s Animal Planet on Saturday, August 1 from 7:30pm