Knowsley Safari Park gets savaged in the social media jungle
Knowsley Safari Park is reeling after being exposed for alleged animal cruelty after a former worker blew the whistle on some suspect practices; however a fumbling response in crisis management is causing lasting damage.
As a leading public relations and social media consultancy in Berkshire, Morgan PR may be a long way from the wilds of Merseyside where this pitiful tale unfolds, but we can explore how the Knowsley Safari Park is blundering through the social media jungle as it fails in crisis management. What crisis management lessons can we learn?
The Sun broke the news today with ‘Zoo killed animals and left them to rot in bins’ and was swiftly followed by the Daily Mail’s ‘Animals shot 'in cold blood' and left to rot by bins at top safari park, former worker claims’. Many others are following up on the story and most damning are the graphic and distressing photographs of beautiful animals dead and abandoned.
The whistle was blown, some might say belatedly, by a photographer, Penny Boyd, who used to work at Knowsley Safari Park – hence the plethora of damning photographs. She also claimed untrained staff used the animals for target practice.
A statement from Knowsley Safari Park kicks off expressing disappointment with its former employee before denying there is any truth and begrudgingly admits: “Only two issues have required further action by the park, both relating to operational matters - the storage and disposal of animal carcasses and firearms procedure.” Guilty as charged then?
Clearly Knowsley Safari Park is more comfortable handling good news and Google reveals (naturally beneath the current crisis) a host of positive stories from the photo-friendly incongruity of lions frolicking in snow through to the triumphant birth of a White Rhino on New Year’s Eve.
It even tries to turn this negative deluge into something positive by talking about new species it plans to introduce! A good day to bury good news perhaps?
It is the social media legacy the zoo is creating through negligence on Facebook and Twitter that will do lasting damage though. People with the attention of their friends and followers are leading opinion largely unaddressed by Knowsley Safari Park.
On Facebook it is leaving a handful of supporters to post positive comments and pictures and largely ignoring the vitriol – not even deleting the offensive posts. It only seems to engage when it can claim a technical innocence and such crisis management cherry picking only makes matter worse as those who see their posts unanswered are further aggrieved.
On Twitter, an account that only had 19 tweets since April 2009 and went almost a year without tweeting between May 2009 and April 2010. The account had been dormant for the past two months until four near identical tweets today, pointing critics on Twitter to the statement mentioned above. Not exactly engaging eh? Most tweets have been ignored and a neglected account means relatively few followers to come to their defence.
Firstly let us consider the message. Ultimately Knowsley Safari Park is in the wrong and should apologise as such first and foremost. Explain how it has learned and the changes it has made and only then talk about all the positive aspects of the park. Do not make excuses, they simply give the impression you have something to hide.
On this basis engage with everyone on social media. This story is big, but it isn’t huge (at least not yet!) and as such this approach would work and especially if done quickly. Express genuine remorse
Sadly, all the good work and undoubted care that keepers do have for animals has been undermined by mistakes which have been compounded by naive crisis management.
A crisis management plan would have made all the difference to this sorry affair. If you would like the reassurance of a crisis management plan for you business, please contact Morgan PR and we can help you. If you are already in crisis, call 0845 00 33 66 before you are thrown to the wolves.