The most heartbreaking thing you'll see all day: Mother bird photographed feeding chick a cigarette butt on a Florida beach; netizens horrified

In a heartwrenching sight that brings into sharp relief like little else the degredation that humans have caused to the environment and our co-inhabitants on Earth, a mother bird at a beach in Florida was photographed feeding her baby chick a cigarette butt.

A Largo resident, Karen Mason, captured the moment and shared the photo to her Facebook page on Monday. The image shows a Black Skimmer bird feeding its chick the butt of a cigarette.

“If you smoke, please don’t leave your butts behind,” Mason captioned the post.

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In a bid to spread awareness among the people especially the youth who are responsible for littering the beaches, Mason took to the social media platform by posting another picture. In the second image, the same chick is seen carrying the cigarette butt in its mouth.

“This skimmer chick was offered a cigarette butt by its  parent. It’s time we cleaned up our beaches and stopped treating them like one giant ashtray,” she wrote

Recounting her experience, she wrote, "I happened to see an adult giving a chick something. I knew it wasn't a fish, but I couldn't tell what it was," she said, adding that it was only when she got home and saw the pictures on a computer that she realised it was a cigarette butt.

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According to a 2018 report from the Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butts made it to the top of the 10 trash items most collected from beaches globally. In the U.S. specifically, more than 842,000 cigarette butts were collected in 2017.

The pictures, along with Ms. Mason's appeal, struck a chord with the Internet. Since it was shared online on Tuesday, it has gone viral, garnering attention from worldwide including hundreds of comments and 'shares'."Absolutely disheartening to watch," wrote one person on Facebook while "Just sickens me," said another.

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