The world’s oldest male giant panda in captivity died at the age of 35.
An An the panda, living in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, was put to death by lethal injection, according to a statement by the theme park.
An An, the world’s longest-living male giant panda in captivity, has died https://t.co/zG81Fo5oTS pic.twitter.com/hyi1m74plh
— TIME (@TIME) July 21, 2022
The statement
“Ocean Park provided medical care to alleviate the geriatric giant panda’s discomfort,” the statement said, according to Time magazine.
“Unfortunately but as expected, An An’s condition reached a humane endpoint,” the statement added.
Panda down https://t.co/GJt2WJFkvl
— Andrew Beaujon (@abeaujon) July 21, 2022
The decision
“An An’s health had deteriorated in recent weeks, with a severe decrease in physical activity and appetite, and he was euthanized by veterinarians early Thursday morning, a statement from the amusement park and zoo Ocean Park said,” according to the Bangkok Post.
“The park said he was equivalent to 105 in human years, and that ‘the difficult decision’ to put him down had been made for welfare reasons in consultation with Chinese experts,” it added.
HONG KONG: The world’s longest-living male giant panda under human care, An An, has died at the age of 35, the Hong Kong zoo where he spent most of his life said Thursday. #BangkokPost #World https://t.co/iII0RqHgIM
— Bangkok Post (@BangkokPostNews) July 21, 2022
An An was brought to Ocean Park in 1999. He lived many years with his mate Ji Ji, who held the record for the oldest female panda in captivity when she died at 38 in 2016.
The world’s longest-living male giant panda in human care, An An, has died at the age of 35, the Hong Kong zoo where he spent most of his life said today https://t.co/8VkscPOzNO
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 21, 2022
The loss of An An is sad for his fans at Ocean Park as well as for panda-lovers everywhere who recognize the importance of protecting the important animal.