Zoo Closed After Employee Allegedly Makes Grim Claim

One of Japan's best-known zoos is dealing with "a crisis of unprecedented magnitude," says Asahikawa Mayor Hirosuke Imazu. The city's Asahiyama Zoo has postponed its planned reopening to at least Friday while police search its grounds—including an animal hospital incinerator—after a male employee allegedly told investigators he burned his wife's body there. The zoo had been shut since April 8 for a seasonal break and was slated to reopen Wednesday, reports the South China Morning Post.

The probe began after a friend requested a welfare check on the woman, in her 30s, who had been unreachable since late March and had allegedly messaged that she feared her husband, according to local reports. Police say the husband, also in his 30s, was questioned on Thursday; Hokkaido Television Broadcasting reported that he allegedly said he "disposed of the body in the zoo's incinerator and burned it for several hours."

The BBC reports the incinerator was used by the zoo to dispose of animal remains. Officers have searched the zoo and the couple's home and seized cars, including a zoo vehicle, but have not located remains or announced charges, the Japan Times reports.