- American bird farmer Taylor Blake reached out to the Irwin clan for help after she thought her prized emu contracted avian influenza
- Bindi Irwin responded, sending her ‘love and prayers’ to the farm but said she and her team had no experience dealing with the disease
- Some fans slammed her response, branding it ‘pathetic and useless’
- But others praised her for supporting and responding to Taylor
- Taylor also thanked Bindi for taking the time to write back, saying ‘her response alone means more than you know’
Bindi Irwin has been slammed by cruel trolls for her response to an American farm owner’s plea for help after she lost 99% of her birds to avian influenza.
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Taylor Blake, also known as Eco Sister on Twitter, sent a desperate message to the Irwin clan last week after she thought her beloved emu and TikTok fan favourite Emmanuel had contracted the virus.
She offered to fly any of their contacts or members of the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to her Knuckle Bump Farm in South Florida to help save Emmanuel.
Bindi responded by saying she wasn’t able to provide too much support because the team at the hospital had never treated birds with avian flu, but did send her ‘love and prayers’ to the farm.
Taylor thanked Bindi for replying, writing: ‘Thank you so much for taking the time to write this, Bindi your response alone means more than you know. Please send my love to your family!’
But some fans flocked to social media to slam Bindi’s response, with one calling it ‘pathetic’ and ‘useless’.
‘What a pathetic, useless reply. Zero effort to help when you’re in a supposedly unique position to use your influence and contacts to actually help her. Thoughts and prayers are cheap. You are unimpressive and that’s being polite,’ they said.
‘Thoughts and prayers are nice, but is there not someone you could recommend, given your family has been in this field for years?’ another agreed.
A third person wrote: ‘So you don’t know of anyone in your network who could help? One would assume it wouldn’t be hard for you to ask around or spread the word in the hopes someone with the right experience comes forward, rather than writing this form[al] letter response pretending you care.’
While some fans criticised Bindi, others praised her for supporting and responding to Taylor.
‘I’m sure just the response lifted spirits of recovery for Emmanuel. That’s all one could even hope for,’ one person said.
‘I think it is so cool that Bindi Irwin replied. Still praying for Emmanuel,’ another agreed.
‘Thank you Irwins. We are all [praying] for Emmanuel. He is deeply loved around the world,’ a third said.
