The last circus trained panda died earlier in the year, it has recently been revealed.

Ying Ying was born in 1984 in Sichuan Province and sent to a circus in Wuhan City, There he learnt to play basketball, drive and play horns and started to perform on stage in 1986.

In 1988, China signed the Washington Treaty that banned endangered animals from being trained in the circus.

Ying Ying died in July of 2009. His trainer Bai Yuling said she considered Ying Ying as her son, as they had been together for more than 20 years.