The oldest male giant panda in captivity has died at the age of 35.
An An lived most of his life in a Hong Kong theme park after he and a panda woman were gifted by China in 1999.
The female panda, Jia Jia, died in 2016 at the age of 38, becoming the largest female panda in captivity.
Ocean Park theme park mourned An An as a family member who created bonds with locals and tourists alike.
“An An has brought us fond memories with numerous moving moments. His intelligence and his game will be sorely missed,” said Paulo Pong, president of Ocean Park Corporation.
An had high blood pressure, a common condition among geriatric pandas. For the past three weeks, An An had remained out of sight of park visitors as her health deteriorated.
He stopped eating solid foods and was significantly less active in recent days.
Last week, hundreds of people left comments on a social media post about An An’s condition, wishing him a speedy recovery.
He was sacrificed to avoid further suffering on Thursday morning after Ocean Park veterinarians and government authorities consulted the China Conservation and Research Center for the giant panda.
“An An lived a full life that ended at the respectable age of 35, the equivalent of 105 years of human age,” Ocean Park said.
Hong Kong hosted another pair of pandas: Ying Ying, a female and a male, Le Le, in 2007 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the city’s return to China.
China usually participates in “panda diplomacy” where mammals found exclusively in China are leased to other countries as a sign of goodwill.