Lin Hui was the last of Thailand’s three pandas, and had lived in a climate-controlled enclosure at the zoo since 2003. She was due to be returned to China in October.
The animal began to bleed from the nose on Tuesday night and its health condition deteriorated rapidly until its death, explained the director of the park, Wutthichai Muangman.
“We helped her as much as we could until Lin Hui left us,” she lamented.
Chinese and Thai experts will carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
On loan from the Chinese city of Chengdu, Lin Hui was insured for half a million dollars.
“It is very regrettable that his life could not be saved,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing. “The Chinese authorities will set up a team of experts to go to Thailand as soon as possible,” he added.
For years everything possible was done to mate Lin Hui with Chuang Chuang, who passed away from a heart attack in 2019.
Following artificial insemination, Lin Hui gave birth to Lin Ping in 2009, sparking a panda frenzy in the kingdom.
The life of the family captivated the whole country, in the live broadcasts of the chores of these animals in the “chain of the pandas”, which operated 24 hours a day between 2009 and 2012. Lin Ping was returned to China a year later.
Social networks in Thailand were full of messages of sadness on Wednesday. “I used to watch her all the time on TV. She was my motivation. RIP Lin Hui,” one netizen tweeted.
Giant pandas have a weak sexual appetite and are among the most endangered species in the world.
Their life expectancy varies from 15 to 20 years in the wild, but they can reach 30 years in captivity, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).