CHINA’S only captive male Pallas’ cat, Sunsimiao, died at the age of 7.5 after choking on chicken while eating, according to an obituary released Monday by Xining Wildlife Park, where Sunsimiao used to live.

Born in 2015, Sunsimiao was rescued from a resident’s home in Xining, Northwest China’s Qinghai Province, by the Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center in 2015. Growing up in captivity, Sunsimiao gradually became the country’s most famous Pallas’ cat loved by Chinese netizens.

Sunsimiao and Sunshangxiang, a female Pallas’ cat rescued in 2019, parented a baby Pallas’ cat in 2021, which is the first artificially bred Pallas’ cat to survive in China.

Xining Wildlife Park said in Sunsimiao’s obituary that although it had never experienced the vastness of the wild plateau in its life, it has made countless people to get to know this species.

It also set up a milestone in the artificial breeding of the species.

The park said it would review the incident and reassess the risks in its management to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

The Pallas’ cat lives across the grasslands and steppes of Central Asia. Mongolia and Russia make up the majority of its range today, with the species living at altitudes up to nearly 5,600 meters.

Pallas’ cats can live to around 8 years old in the wild, though the oldest recorded captive individuals lived to 12 years old.

(Global Times)