Japanese zookeeper allegedly admitted to dumping wife’s body in crematorium – National
A Japanese zoo has been forced to delay its summer opening after an employee reported to police that he dumped his wife’s body in the zoo’s incinerator, according to Japanese media reports.
Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, was supposed to reopen on Wednesday, during the Japanese holiday, after a three-week maintenance closure, but said it would reopen on May 1 pending an investigation.
A statement posted on the zoo’s website reads, “We regret to inform you that a city employee is currently being questioned by the police for his alleged involvement in a serious incident.”
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Police arrested 33-year-old employee Suzuki Tatsuya after investigators found what appeared to be human body parts in the zoo’s furnace, Japanese newspaper NHK reported on Friday.
The incinerator is often used to dispose of animal carcasses, writes the BBC.
Police said Tatsuya confessed to the crime before he was arrested, according to a Japanese newspaper, telling investigators that he took the body of his 33-year-old wife to a zoo and burned it at the end of March, reports said.
According to the investigators, he also revealed that he killed her and it is suspected that he threatened to burn the body until nothing is lost, said NHK.
Police began questioning Tatsuya after family members reported his wife missing, the source said.
Hirosuke Imazu, the mayor of the city of Asahikawa, described the discovery at a press conference on Tuesday as an “unprecedented tragedy,” a British newspaper reported.
“No one could have predicted,” he said.
“I am very worried, and I am facing a problem that has never been seen before,” continued the mayor.
“We are making preparations to welcome you, so we hope that as many people as possible will come to the park,” he concluded.
The popular tourist destination, which attracts visitors from all over Japan and around the world, is operated by the local government and welcomed visitors on Friday, two days later than planned.
File: ASAHIKAWA, JAPAN: Visitors watch monkeys at Asahiyama Zoo on February 2, 2009, in Asahikawa, Japan. Asahiyama Zoo became famous in Japan after it started showing animals close to visitors.
Junko Kimura/Getty Images
Asahiyama Zoo opened in July 1967 and is world-renowned for its unique enclosure designs, which include glass elements and overhead cages, giving visitors close, personal access to the animals.
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