<figure id="attachment_419733" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-419733"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="f6fce75d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/282feb33532347d2e0361e1c0b6d0371.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-419733" class="wp-caption-text">Alex the lion, kept inside the park, was part of the popular “Lion Direct” experience, where visitors fed him through a wire mesh using tongs.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>From illegal operations to sudden closure</h2>
&#8220;North Safari Sapporo had built animal enclosures and shops in an urbanization control area, where, in principle, commercial facilities are not allowed. This violation of the City Planning Act had been ongoing since before the park’s opening in 2004. Sapporo City issued a total of 17 administrative warnings, both written and verbal, to the operating company, Success Kanko, but they continued operations regardless,” said Shuichi Tsubota, director of Sapporo City’s Development Guidance Division.
However, on March 10, after more than 20 years of illegal operations, North Safari Sapporo suddenly announced on its website that the company president had resigned and that the park would close by the end of September.
“After Yomiuri Shimbun exposed the illegal operations on February 1, the president disappeared. Even the city doesn’t know where he is now,” said a local newspaper reporter.
One week before the sudden closure announcement—FRIDAY’s reporter was on-site at North Safari Sapporo.
The “Animal Glamping” area, where guests could interact with animals like flying squirrels and huskies, was nearly deserted. But the winter sports area, offering experiences like dog sledding, still had about ten tourists. A group of six people was enjoying a snowmobile pulling a banana boat across the snow, their laughter echoing in the peaceful atmosphere. 
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<h2>Animals being pushed around</h2>
However, the current situation at the park is far from peaceful. Over 500 animals from more than 150 species kept at the facility still have no confirmed destination. Ayako Nagano, head of the Living Environment Division at the Sapporo City Public Health Office, sighed as she explained:
“There are countless factors to assess before animals can be transferred—what kind of food they’ve been given, how they were raised, and so on. For species like lions and seals, more than a month of quarantine is required to ensure they’re not carrying infectious diseases. It’s not as simple as just moving them from one place to another.”
When asked whether they had been approached to accept animals from North Safari, three of the four major zoos in Hokkaido—Asahiyama, Obihiro, and Maruyama—said they had received no such inquiry (Kushiro Zoo did not respond).
An inquiry to Success Kanko’s office was also met with a dead end—the public relations manager simply said, “Please speak with our legal counsel.” That lawyer, however, did not respond by the deadline.
The future of the animals remains uncertain. In this poorly handled and selfish closure, the city, its residents, and most of all, the animals, are the ones being caught in the turmoil.
<figure id="attachment_419734" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1665px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-419734"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a69660c7"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/6c136dd1de4530e4c944c91331ea6b0e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-419734" class="wp-caption-text">The Arctic wolf is a rare animal that can only be seen in three locations in Japan, including North Safari Sapporo.</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_419735" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-419735"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="604904db"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/d17963e23f827081235ffcd5353aadb2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-419735" class="wp-caption-text">North Safari Sapporo is located about a 50-minute drive from central Sapporo. Its annual revenue is estimated at around 600 million yen.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_419736" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-419736"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="327cc16a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/b3f8b41e5b9a1b34bf9617fd3f2eb42c.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-419736" class="wp-caption-text">Unpublished Photos: On-Site Report of North Safari Sapporo’s “Illegal Operations” [To Close by End of September]</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_419737" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-419737"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a95ff82a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/1bf9b40ce18955d761ffe2bfb498dbc3.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-419737" class="wp-caption-text">Unpublished Photos: On-Site Report of North Safari Sapporo’s “Illegal Operations” [To Close by End of September]</figcaption></figure>
From &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; April 4 and 11, 2025

 North Safari Sapporo, which has ignored administrative guidance for more than 20 years and continued to operate illegally, suddenly announced the resignation of the president of the management company and the closing of the park at the end of September. Furthermore, the company has yet to find a new home for the more than 500 animals it keeps at the park....

 After ignoring administrative guidance for over 20 years, the president resigned in a blitz. The place to accept over 500 animals has yet to be decided. ......

North Safari Sapporo to Shut Down by September—Future of Animals Left Uncertain Amid Illegal Operations

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