35-year-old is the oldest male giant panda ever kept in captivity.
After being gifted by China in 1999, An An spent most of his time at a Hong Kong theme park as a child with a female panda.
Jia Jia, a female panda, died at 38 years old. She was the oldest female panda ever kept in captivity.
Ocean Park mourns An An, a relative who made strong bonds with tourists and locals.
“An An has given us many heart-warming moments and fond memories. Paulo Pong (chairman of Ocean Park Corporation) said that An An’s cleverness and playfulness would be missed.
An An was suffering from high blood pressure. This is a common condition in elderly pandas. An An was kept away from the park for three weeks because his health deteriorated.
He stopped eating solid foods and had been significantly less active in recent weeks.
Many people left comments last week on An An’s social media post, wishing him speedy recovery.
After consultations with the China Conservation and Research Centre of the Giant Panda and Ocean Park veterinarians, he was put to death on Thursday morning.
Ocean Park stated that An An lived a full and happy life, ending at the respectable 35-year-old age – which is the equivalent to 105 years for human age.
Hong Kong received another panda couple – Ying Ying (a female) and Le Le (a male) in 2007 to commemorate the 10th anniversary the city’s return from China.
China engages in “panda diplomacy”, where mammals only found in China are leased out to other countries in a gesture of goodwill.
reply
retweet
favourite
