Macau female panda Xin Xin dies of kidney failure

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HONG KONG (AP) — The female half of a giant panda couple that the Asian gambling hub of Macau received as a gift from Beijing has died from kidney failure, the southern Chinese city's government said Monday.

Xin Xin did not show any clinical signs of illness during a routine physical exam in May but was uncooperative during training. After a week of treatment, she showed signs of improvement. But over the past two weeks her kidney function deteriorated rapidly.

Macau's panda park said that Xin Xin, who was nearly six, was declared dead at 8:18 p.m. on Sunday.

Xin Xin and her mate Kai Kai arrived in Macau in late 2010, after China's then-president Hu Jintao promised the city a pair when he visited the city a year earlier to mark the 10th anniversary of the former Portuguese colony's return to Chinese control.

Xin Xin was born July 26, 2008, at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in central China.