Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo to sack 26 staff

Article from: AAP

March 26, 2009 09:22am

THE global economic crisis is being blamed for sackings at one of Australia's premier tourist attractions.

Australia Zoo, at Beerwah in the Sunshine Coast hinterland north of Brisbane, has announced it would lay off 26 staff and delay expansion plans.

The zoo was founded by the parents of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin in 1970 and has grown to become one of Queensland's major tourism sites.

In a statement, the zoo said it had conducted an extensive and thorough review of the business and its operations.

”Australia Zoo has taken all measures to retain members of the Australia Zoo team. However, regretfully, the difficult decision has been made to temporarily down scale less than five per cent of the team across the business - which equates to 20 full-time and six casual staff - and push back expansion plans in the interim,” the statement said.

”All entitlements of affected staff will be met and we will be working closely with our employees to provide appropriate assistance to those affected.