diff --git a/moto/s3/responses.py b/moto/s3/responses.py
index a57522882..a46a20f9e 100644
--- a/moto/s3/responses.py
+++ b/moto/s3/responses.py
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class ResponseObject(_TemplateEnvironmentMixin):
         elif method == 'DELETE':
             return self._bucket_response_delete(body, bucket_name, querystring, headers)
         elif method == 'POST':
-            return self._bucket_response_post(request, bucket_name, headers)
+            return self._bucket_response_post(request, body, bucket_name, headers)
         else:
             raise NotImplementedError("Method {0} has not been impelemented in the S3 backend yet".format(method))
 
@@ -268,9 +268,9 @@ class ResponseObject(_TemplateEnvironmentMixin):
             template = self.response_template(S3_DELETE_BUCKET_WITH_ITEMS_ERROR)
             return 409, headers, template.render(bucket=removed_bucket)
 
-    def _bucket_response_post(self, request, bucket_name, headers):
+    def _bucket_response_post(self, request, body, bucket_name, headers):
         if self.is_delete_keys(request, request.path, bucket_name):
-            return self._bucket_response_delete_keys(request, bucket_name, headers)
+            return self._bucket_response_delete_keys(request, body, bucket_name, headers)
 
         # POST to bucket-url should create file from form
         if hasattr(request, 'form'):
@@ -297,10 +297,10 @@ class ResponseObject(_TemplateEnvironmentMixin):
 
         return 200, headers, ""
 
-    def _bucket_response_delete_keys(self, request, bucket_name, headers):
+    def _bucket_response_delete_keys(self, request, body, bucket_name, headers):
         template = self.response_template(S3_DELETE_KEYS_RESPONSE)
 
-        keys = minidom.parseString(request.body.decode('utf-8')).getElementsByTagName('Key')
+        keys = minidom.parseString(body).getElementsByTagName('Key')
         deleted_names = []
         error_names = []