Kushiro Zoo (Kushiro, Japan): (09 February 2025)
Kushiro Zoo is a small zoo in Kushiro, on the island of Hokkaido. It is well outside the town so you need transport to get there, either a car/taxi or one of the infrequent buses. There are only two buses per day to the zoo from the Kushiro bus/train station (at 9.30am and 2.05pm), and only one bus coming back to town (at 4.06pm). There are two additional buses running to the zoo from the Aeon Showa Mall at 10.30am and 12.30pm, so you could catch a bus from the bus station to the mall to transfer. Because I came into Kushiro in the late morning this is what I did, catching the number 77 bus from the station to the mall at 11.40am (arriving there at 12.10pm), then the number 83 bus at 12.30pm (arriving at the zoo at 1.15pm). The zoo closes at 3.30pm (winter), which was enough time to get around everything.
On the way to the zoo the two-bus combination cost me 1090 Yen, and coming back the single bus cost me 890 Yen. I had asked at my hotel how much a taxi would cost to get out there and was told about 6800 Yen.
There are only mammals and birds at the zoo - no reptiles, amphibians or fish. It is a very old-style zoo. Some of the housing is definitely too small, particularly the apes, but overall it's not terrible. The tigers and lions, and the apes, are housed in small cages of concrete and wire, with heavy metal frames which you could imagine used to have bars rather than mesh. The yards for hoofstock are small but okay, there is a reasonable-sized "mountain" for Japanese Macaques, and there are large aviaries for eagles and owls.
In winter it is rather bleak, and some of the steep paths are a bit treacherous with ice, but in other seasons it is probably really pleasant because it is full of trees.
The pamphlet map for the zoo (available in English) is very complete, with photos of all the animals with their English names - and with various pictures having a red stamp on them saying (in Japanese) "died" so visitors know they are no longer present. There were quite a few of these stamps - American Bison, Wapiti, African Crested Porcupine, Ezo Brown Bear, Ostrich, and Northern Goshawk. The North American River Otter had also died but didn't have a stamp on my pamphlet. There were memorials for several animals at their former enclosures.
Map-board at the zoo
In the list below, I have included those species which are no longer at the zoo (have died) but are still on the maps, and have marked them with asterisks. Species which were simply not seen but were still present are just noted as "not seen".
I'm not sure about the Polar Bear - the translation of the sign was a bit wonky on my phone. One animal had definitely died (the sign said there was a memorial elsewhere in the zoo for that animal), but I'm not sure if the other animal was just off-display or had been moved to another zoo [Edit: as per a comment further down this thread, both Polar Bears are deceased, in 2023 and 2024]. The Polar Bear enclosure was very small indeed, especially if it had previously held two bears!
Photos are in the Japan Other gallery: Japan - Other - ZooChat
MAMMALS:
Alpaca
domestic Goat
domestic Sheep
Reindeer Rangifer tarandus
Hokkaido Sika Deer Cervus nippon yesoensis
*Wapiti (no longer at zoo)
*American Bison (no longer at zoo)
domestic Rabbit
domestic Guinea Pig
*African Crested Porcupine (no longer at zoo)
North American Beaver Castor canadensis
Hokkaido Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris orientis (not seen)
Siberian Flying Squirrel Pteromys volans orii (not seen)
Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes
Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus (unspecified)
White-handed Gibbon Hylobates lar
Japanese Macaque Macaca fuscata
Plains Zebra Equus quagga
Reticulated Giraffe Giraffa reticulata
African Lion Panthera leo
Siberian Tiger Panthera tigris altaica
*Ezo Brown Bear (no longer at zoo)
*Polar Bear Ursus maritimus (no longer at zoo)
Red Panda Ailurus (fulgens) styani
*North American River Otter (no longer at zoo)
Japanese Sable Martes zibellina (not seen)
Kuril Seal Phoca vitulina stejnegeri
South American Sealion Otaria byronia
BIRDS:
*Ostrich (no longer at zoo)
Humboldt Penguin Spheniscus humboldti
Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus (Swan Pond was frozen, no swans were seen)
Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis
Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata
Red-crowned Crane Grus japonensis
Indian Peafowl Pavo cristatus (pictured on the map for the Childrens Zoo, but not seen)
Triton Cockatoo Cacatus galerita triton (in the Childrens Zoo area)
Blakiston's Fish Owl Ketupa blakistoni
Eurasian Eagle Owl Bubo bubo (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Collared Scops Owl Otus lettia (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Ezo Ural Owl Strix uralensis japonica (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Steller's Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus
White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla
Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus nipalensis orientalis
*Northern Goshawk (no longer at zoo)
Eastern Buzzard Buteo japonicus
Black Kite Milvus migrans
Kushiro Zoo is a small zoo in Kushiro, on the island of Hokkaido. It is well outside the town so you need transport to get there, either a car/taxi or one of the infrequent buses. There are only two buses per day to the zoo from the Kushiro bus/train station (at 9.30am and 2.05pm), and only one bus coming back to town (at 4.06pm). There are two additional buses running to the zoo from the Aeon Showa Mall at 10.30am and 12.30pm, so you could catch a bus from the bus station to the mall to transfer. Because I came into Kushiro in the late morning this is what I did, catching the number 77 bus from the station to the mall at 11.40am (arriving there at 12.10pm), then the number 83 bus at 12.30pm (arriving at the zoo at 1.15pm). The zoo closes at 3.30pm (winter), which was enough time to get around everything.
On the way to the zoo the two-bus combination cost me 1090 Yen, and coming back the single bus cost me 890 Yen. I had asked at my hotel how much a taxi would cost to get out there and was told about 6800 Yen.
There are only mammals and birds at the zoo - no reptiles, amphibians or fish. It is a very old-style zoo. Some of the housing is definitely too small, particularly the apes, but overall it's not terrible. The tigers and lions, and the apes, are housed in small cages of concrete and wire, with heavy metal frames which you could imagine used to have bars rather than mesh. The yards for hoofstock are small but okay, there is a reasonable-sized "mountain" for Japanese Macaques, and there are large aviaries for eagles and owls.
In winter it is rather bleak, and some of the steep paths are a bit treacherous with ice, but in other seasons it is probably really pleasant because it is full of trees.
The pamphlet map for the zoo (available in English) is very complete, with photos of all the animals with their English names - and with various pictures having a red stamp on them saying (in Japanese) "died" so visitors know they are no longer present. There were quite a few of these stamps - American Bison, Wapiti, African Crested Porcupine, Ezo Brown Bear, Ostrich, and Northern Goshawk. The North American River Otter had also died but didn't have a stamp on my pamphlet. There were memorials for several animals at their former enclosures.
Map-board at the zoo
In the list below, I have included those species which are no longer at the zoo (have died) but are still on the maps, and have marked them with asterisks. Species which were simply not seen but were still present are just noted as "not seen".
I'm not sure about the Polar Bear - the translation of the sign was a bit wonky on my phone. One animal had definitely died (the sign said there was a memorial elsewhere in the zoo for that animal), but I'm not sure if the other animal was just off-display or had been moved to another zoo [Edit: as per a comment further down this thread, both Polar Bears are deceased, in 2023 and 2024]. The Polar Bear enclosure was very small indeed, especially if it had previously held two bears!
Photos are in the Japan Other gallery: Japan - Other - ZooChat
MAMMALS:
Alpaca
domestic Goat
domestic Sheep
Reindeer Rangifer tarandus
Hokkaido Sika Deer Cervus nippon yesoensis
*Wapiti (no longer at zoo)
*American Bison (no longer at zoo)
domestic Rabbit
domestic Guinea Pig
*African Crested Porcupine (no longer at zoo)
North American Beaver Castor canadensis
Hokkaido Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris orientis (not seen)
Siberian Flying Squirrel Pteromys volans orii (not seen)
Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes
Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus (unspecified)
White-handed Gibbon Hylobates lar
Japanese Macaque Macaca fuscata
Plains Zebra Equus quagga
Reticulated Giraffe Giraffa reticulata
African Lion Panthera leo
Siberian Tiger Panthera tigris altaica
*Ezo Brown Bear (no longer at zoo)
*Polar Bear Ursus maritimus (no longer at zoo)
Red Panda Ailurus (fulgens) styani
*North American River Otter (no longer at zoo)
Japanese Sable Martes zibellina (not seen)
Kuril Seal Phoca vitulina stejnegeri
South American Sealion Otaria byronia
BIRDS:
*Ostrich (no longer at zoo)
Humboldt Penguin Spheniscus humboldti
Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus (Swan Pond was frozen, no swans were seen)
Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis
Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata
Red-crowned Crane Grus japonensis
Indian Peafowl Pavo cristatus (pictured on the map for the Childrens Zoo, but not seen)
Triton Cockatoo Cacatus galerita triton (in the Childrens Zoo area)
Blakiston's Fish Owl Ketupa blakistoni
Eurasian Eagle Owl Bubo bubo (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Collared Scops Owl Otus lettia (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Ezo Ural Owl Strix uralensis japonica (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus (in "Owl Forest" as per the map, but area was blocked off)
Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Steller's Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus
White-tailed Sea Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla
Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle Nisaetus nipalensis orientalis
*Northern Goshawk (no longer at zoo)
Eastern Buzzard Buteo japonicus
Black Kite Milvus migrans
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