Visitors to Ocean Park on Thursday morning were shocked to hear that An An, a giant panda given to Hong Kong as a gift by the central government, had been put down.

A woman surnamed Chan said she was a huge fan of An An and visited him three times a week since 2019.

“I will miss him,” said Chan, with a tiny panda soft toy in her hands.

“I’m sad. I will miss him definitely, everything about An An. I will miss the way he looked, the way he ate, how cute he was,” she said.

A secondary school student told RTHK that she was in shock. “I hope the panda is in a good place now,” she said.

Ocean Park has put books of condolence at the entrance of An An’s enclosure for visitors to pay tribute to him.

The park said the panda, who was 35 years old, had been eating less and less and growing weaker in recent weeks.