Giant panda, father of twins this year, dies in Austrian zoo

FILE - In this March 17, 2003 file picture male giant panda Long Hui eats bamboo at Vienna's Schoenbrunn zoo. Vienna’s zoo says Friday Dec. 9, 2016 that the giant panda that fathered twins earlier this year has died while under anesthesia during an examination for a tumor. The Schoenbrunn zoo says Long Hui, a 16-year-old male, died while undergoing a computer tomographic examination. Zoo director Dagmar Schratter says his heart stopped beating, (AP Photo/Rudi Blaha,file) (The Associated Press)

VIENNA – Vienna's zoo says that the giant panda that fathered twins earlier this year has died while under anesthesia during an examination for a tumor.

The Schoenbrunn zoo says 16-year-old Long Hui died while undergoing a computer tomographic examination. Zoo director Dagmar Schratter says his heart stopped beating,

Zoo officials said Friday says that the tumor in the abdominal area was malign and inoperable and had apparently started to spread to the lungs.

The death comes less than four months after the zoo announced the birth of the giant panda twins fathered by Long Hui.