The heart-breaking image of the baby chick being fed a cigarette butt went viral after it started doing the rounds last weekend. The picture was clicked by Largo, Florida resident Karen Mason
An image of a black skimmer mother bird at a beach in Florida feeding her offspring a cigarette butt has been doing the rounds on social media. According to reports, the image was clicked at St Pete's Beach in Pinellas County.
The picture was posted by a Largo, Florida resident named Karen Mason. She captioned her post thus: "If you smoke, please don’t leave your butts behind"
Karen shared another picture of a chick carrying the cigarette butt, walking towards the camera. She captioned it stating, "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. #nobuttsforbabies:”
A local website, Myarklamiss.com interviewed Karen Mason, who said, "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, adding that it was only when she got home and saw the pictures on a computer that she realised it was a cigarette butt."
These pictures have moved many netizens who have re-posted it multiple times to share the message.
According to the Ocean Conservancy 2018 report, cigarette butts made it to the top of the ten most trash items collected from beaches globally.
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