The oldest male giant panda in history has died in Hong Kong. Photo: AP Photo / Kin Cheung.
The the oldest male giant panda bear in history He died in captivity at the age of 35 in Ocean Park, a Hong Kong theme park, after spending a few weeks in a fragile state of health from high blood pressure. was sacrificed to prevent further suffering.
The animal, named An An, lived most of his life in Ocean Park after he and a female of the same species were donated in 1999 to Hong Kong from China. The female panda, Jia Jia, died in 2016 at the age of 38, making her the oldest female ever in an artificial environment.
Ocean Park mourned An An as a family member who grew up with the park and made bonds with locals and tourists alike. “An An brought us fond memories with numerous moving moments. We will greatly miss his intelligence and playful characterPaulo Pong, president of Ocean Park Corporation, said in a statement.
On the park’s Facebook account, they said: “We want to express our gratitude to An An for all the wonderful things he has brought to the people of Hong Kong and our visitors around the world, as he has been a true ambassador of conservation and educational messaging.
The oldest male giant panda in history has died in Hong Kong. Photo: Anthony WALLACE / AFP)
An An suffered from high blood pressure, a common condition among geriatric pandas. For the past three weeks he had kept out of sight of park visitors as his health had deteriorated. stopped eating solid foods and has been significantly less active in the past few days.
“An An’s health slowly deteriorated but progressively in the last weeks with a serious decrease in physical activities and food intake “, they specified.
Last week, hundreds of people left comments on an Ocean Park post about An An’s condition, wishing her a speedy recovery. It is that he was known and loved by several people.
The oldest male giant panda in history has died in Hong Kong. Photo: AP Photo / Kin Cheung.
Thursday morning he was sacrificed to avoid further sufferingafter Ocean Park vets and government authorities consulted the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center, Ocean Park reported.
“An An lived a full life that ended at the respectable age of 35, the equivalent to 105 years of human age”, says the press release.
China often conducts “panda diplomacy” in which mammals found exclusively in China are given away to other countries as a sign of goodwill.
With information from AP.
Source: Clarin
