Utterly heartbreaking.

We're pretty fond of animals of all shapes and sizes, so we're pretty heartbroken by this news. A flamingo that resides in a zoo in Illinois in the US had to be put down because a child threw a rock into its enclosure, which ended up hitting the animal. The kid, who is in elementary school, caused injuries to the animal's leg and it had to be euthanised on Monday. According to CNN, the zoo is currently working with the parents of the child to make sure he understands it is a "learning experience." The zoo in which the incident happened has a wide array of both indoor and outdoor exhibits of animals. As well as the flamingo enclosure, it has reindeer, the Sumatran tiger, river otters, red pandas, lemurs, bald eagles, gibbons and red wolves. Flamingos usually live up to 30 years, however some are known to live up to 60 years. Four flamingo species can be found throughout the Americas, including the Caribbean, and two species are native to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Never throw rocks, kids.