Hong Kong’s beloved giant panda An An died on Thursday at the age of 35.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the loss of centenarian panda An An, the world’s longest-living male giant panda under human care, today (July 21, 2022),” Ocean Park, the theme park that had been An An’s home for most of his life, wrote in a Facebook post.
“An An lived a full life that ended at the respectable age of 35 — the equivalent of 105 years old in human age.”
The theme park added that An An’s health deteriorated slowly but progressively in the past few weeks, with the panda showing a severe decrease in physical activities and food intake.
Ocean Park said his condition had reached a humane endpoint and, based on animal welfare reasons, its veterinarians as well as those from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department made the difficult decision to euthanize An An after consulting the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.
The procedure was performed at about 8:40am today at An An’s residence in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures section of the theme park.
“We want to express our gratitude to An An for all of the wonderful things he brought to the people of Hong Kong and our visitors from around the world,” the park said in a separate post, adding he was a true ambassador of conservation and educational messaging.
The park has opened condolence books at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures. If members of the public are not able to visit in person, they can leave condolence messages in the comments section of this post to pay tribute to An An.
An An and his female companion Jia Jia were gifted to Hong Kong in 1999.
Jia Jia, who was the world’s oldest giant panda in captivity, was also put to sleep for humane reasons in 2016 at the age of 38.
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