Asahiyama Zoo Staff Suspected of Disposing Wife's Body in Zoo Incinerator; Hokkaido Police Investigating

(CNA Tokyo, 24th, Integrated Foreign Media Reports) Asahiyama Zoo in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, is a popular attraction for Taiwanese tourists. Japanese media reported today that a male employee in his 30s at the zoo confessed to police that he abandoned his wife's body in the zoo's incinerator.

Hokkaido Broadcasting (HBC) reported that this employee is also a municipal official of Asahikawa City.

According to investigation sources, after authorities were alerted regarding a woman's safety, police contacted the husband—the aforementioned zoo employee. The man told police, 'I placed my 30-year-old wife's body in the incinerator at Asahiyama Zoo.'

Another source revealed that the man went to work as usual at the zoo yesterday. Hokkaido police are questioning the man on suspicion of corpse abandonment and are inspecting the zoo's interior based on his confession.

Asahiyama Zoo is currently preparing for summer operations and has been closed from the 8th to the 28th of this month.