There have been a few deaths of world famous animals that were residing in zoos or enclosures recently. The world still hasn’t recovered from the death of the legendary Harambe, and now we must cope with the death of Jia Jia, the world’s oldest panda in captivity.
Jia Jia was euthanized on October 16, 2016 in an effort to end the suffering and pain she was enduring. Sadly, Jia Jia went through the latter stage of her life being very sick. She was suffering from high blood pressure, arthritis, and had cataracts in both of her eyes. Recently, Jia Jia had been losing an unusual amount of weight, and her lack of appetite was also a bad sign. Jia Jia’s final days were spent lying around, as she was too weak to move around, and because of this it was determined that the best thing to do was to put her out of her pain. The average life expectancy of a giant panda in captivity is slightly over twenty years, and Jia Jia blew this benchmark out of the water, managing to live almost twice the amount of the average giant panda. Last year she became a world record holder, becoming the oldest panda ever recorded in captivity on her thirty seventh birth day. The Hong Kong Zoo, which has been her home since 1999, was giving her the best treatment possible in order to try and help her maintain relatively good health. Her body gave up on her; however, and the whole zoo has been mourning the death of one of the zoo’s most iconic attractions. According to CNN, the zoo had described her as “a member of our family” and an “important animal ambassador for her species.”
The death of Jia Jia has not been as widely broadcasted like Harambe or Cecil the lion, since she died of natural causes, unlike Harambe and Cecil, but she should be mourned equally, as she was one of the most notable pandas in the world. Jia Jia will always be remembered, and we hope to see her legacy carried on by her longtime partner An An. An An, who is thirty, has been accompanying Jia Jia since she arrived at the zoo, and he will surely be sad to see his longtime partner pass away. Hopefully he will be able to live up to the same age as her, to carry on her legacy, and perhaps even longer!