In an expected but still devastating development, the National Zoo has announced that Bei Bei the giant panda will be leaving the only home he’s ever known—and his legions of adoring D.C. fans—on November 19.

Like his brother Tai Shan and his sister Bao Bao before him, Bei Bei will be moving to China as part of the zoo’s breeding agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, which allows the zoo to keep all pandas born in D.C. until they’re four years old. Bei Bei’s big birthday was August 22, but until now, it’s been unclear when he would actually be leaving us.

“Bei Bei is part of our family. Our team has cared for him, learned from him and, along with millions, loved watching him grow,” Steve Monfort, a director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, said in a statement. “We’re sad he’s leaving, but excited for the contributions he will make to the global giant panda population.”

Frankly, a cold comfort to D.C. denizens who have been devoted fans of this extremely cute panda since he came into our lives in August 2015.

Bei Bei is the youngest child of giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the giant panda adults who live at the zoo on loan from China. The panda parents have a troubled romance (mostly they just don’t understand how to have sex), but with human help, they have had three adorable panda babies who have lived at the zoo for four years each (give or take a few months). Mei Xiang, at 21 years old, is reaching the end of her reproductive life. This year, she once again offered brief hope by exhibiting behaviors consistent with pregnancy, but—like last year—it turned out she was faking it.

That means Bei Bei is quite possibly the last panda cub to be born in D.C., at least under the current agreement with China, which runs through the end of 2020.

From November 11-18, the zoo will hold a series of Bye Bye, Bei Bei events to celebrate his time with us. The zoo says it will announce more about these events in the coming weeks, but if you can’t make it in person, Panda Cam 1 will soon be all Bei Bei, all the time.

With a date set, Bei Bei’s handlers have begun preparing him for his big move, per a zoo statement. Soon, a crate will be placed in Bei Bei’s enclosure, and keepers will begin training Bei Bei to walk through it. Eventually they will train him to sit inside of it calmly with the door shut.

On the big day, Bei Bei will fly nonstop to Chengdu, China in a private B777 aircraft from FedEx. The flight will take about 16 hours, and Bei Bei will be steadily supplied with bamboo, apples, pears, carrots, sweet potato, biscuits, and water throughout, the zoo says. One of his American keepers will remain with Bei Bei for a short while as he gets used to his new surroundings at a base run by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Bei Bei will be bred with another panda when he reaches sexual maturity, between five and seven years old.

But as Bei Bei goes forth and fulfills his panda destiny, we here in D.C. will always remember him like this: a giant, adorable, fumbling panda playing in the snow.