Mother bird feeds cigarette to chick, gives heartbreaking sight to beachgoers

Florida: Millions of people visit beaches of Florida every year, but a new snap surfacing from one of the shores is an eye-opener for the beachgoers.

A heartbreaking picture of a mother bird feeding her baby chick a cigarette butt in Florida went viral on social media.

A Largo woman who was visiting St Pete Beach came across a sad scene of a black skimmer seabird picking the butt up and putting it in the baby’s mouth.

Karen Catbird swiftly captured the action and shared it on her personal Facebook profile and across the Facebook pages of different local wildlife organizations.

"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.

"If you smoke, please don't leave your butts behind," wrote Mason on Facebook.

Mason also shared another picture of the chick with the cigarette butt and urged beachgoers to clean up after themselves.
"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 ash tray," she wrote.

The pictures, along with Mason's appeal, melted heart of people. The post went viral, garnering hundreds of comments and shares.
Many commenters endorsed her request saying the sight was “heartbreaking and devastating”.

Susan Nagi wrote: “The baby chick needs to become a poster child for change.”

“People are disgusting!” wrote Josee Noel. “They don’t want their butts, as if we do! Time to ban them, everywhere! What about our rights? Nature’s? Toxicity off the charts!”