Japanese zoo has created all-girl band to help find breeding mate for their 11-year-old male wombat called ‘Fuku’
Fuku came to Satsukiyama Zoo in Osaka’s Ikeda city from Launceston, a city in northern Tasmania, in 2007 as the two cities have established a sister city relationship.
“Konkatsu,” or marriage hunting, has become a buzzword in Japan at a time when birth rates and the number of people tying the knot have been falling. But humans aren’t the only ones having a hard time finding partners.
A zoo in western Japan’s Osaka Prefecture says it is struggling to find a bride for one of its wombats, the country’s only breeding-age specimen of the Australian native animal.
To help find 11-year-old male “Fuku” a mate, Satsukiyama Zoo has created an all-girl idol group to spearhead a wombat-breeding campaign.
Kotone Kimura, a 16-year-old high school student, Azuki Yasuda, a 21-year-old college student, and Marina Hamada, a 22-year-old dental assistant, were chosen via the Internet to form the group “Keeper Girls” in August last year as part of the project.
Fuku came to Satsukiyama Zoo in Osaka’s Ikeda city from Launceston, a city in northern Tasmania, in 2007 as the two cities have established a sister city relationship. The other two, born in 1989, were also donated to the zoo by the Australian city in 1990.