diff --git a/tap_github/streams.py b/tap_github/streams.py
index 62f1c31e..c150ec46 100644
--- a/tap_github/streams.py
+++ b/tap_github/streams.py
@@ -310,6 +310,12 @@ def http_headers(self) -> dict:
 
     def post_process(self, row: dict, context: Optional[dict] = None) -> dict:
         row["type"] = "pull_request" if "pull_request" in row else "issue"
+        if row['body'] is not None:
+            # some issue bodies include control characters such as \x00
+            # that some targets (such as postgresql) choke on. This ensures
+            # such chars are removed from the data before we pass it on to
+            # the target
+            row['body'] = row['body'].encode('utf-8', errors='ignore')
         return row
 
     schema = th.PropertiesList(