Bao Bao inspected her frozen birthday cake at a triple birthday panda party in August. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Zoo)

Visit Bao Bao while you still can. The charming panda toddler and noted tumbler doesn’t have much longer here in the District.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo announced today that the panda, who turned three in late August, will depart for China “within the first few months of 2017.”

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise—the agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association requires that all pandas born here must be relocated to China by the time they turn four. The same happened to Tai Shan, aka Butterstick (remember him?), at the same age.

When Bao Bao reaches sexual maturity between the ages of about five or six, she will join the giant panda breeding program, as her parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian did before her.

Panda keepers at the zoo are already prepping Bao Bao for her journey to Chengdu by getting her acclimated to a travel crate. The timing for her journey is set during the winter months so she’ll stay cooler. We all know she loves snow.

Before she leaves, the zoo is planning events for the public to bid Bao Bao farewell. She was first introduced to the public in January 2014.

Her rascally younger brother Bei Bei is still here, but Bao Bao’s forthcoming departure reminds us that he, too, will eventually leave us, as will all of those we love.

But don’t think about that now. Remember when Bao Bao met Hugh Jackman? Or touched a “hot wire” and hid in a tree? That was nice. Yes, everything is fine.