A six-year-old boy’s philotherianism has earned him wide appreciation on the social media and honour from his school.

Derek C. Lalchhanhima, a class I student of St Pio School in Sairang, about 18km from here, was awarded with Word of Appreciation certificate by his school principal, Father Steward Fernandes, on Thursday for his simple act of honesty and compassion.

The elder of the two children of Amit Chhetri, (also known as Dhiraj Chhetri), a constable with the state police, the boy accidentally trampled on a chick on March 29 while playing and rushed it to a nearby community health centre with the money his father gave.

Chhetri told The Telegraph that his son came home with the neighbour’s chick which he had accidentally stepped on and begged him to take it to the hospital without knowing that it was already dead.

“I asked him to take it himself as I was busy and gave him Rs 10,” Chhetri said.

The boy went to a community health centre with the money.

Later, he returned sobbing and said the doctors and nurses did not treat the chick but only took his picture and let go, Chhetri said.

The boy was determined to go back to the centre with more money until his mother told him that the chick was already dead.

Chhetri said he did not actually expect his son to go to the hospital with a dead chick.

The incident came to light on Wednesday when a Facebook user, Sanga Says, posted the boy’s picture on his wall.

The story soon went viral and has been shared over 87,000 times with people praising the little boy for his responsibility and compassion.

“When I told him that he was being praised by people for his act, he said the chicken was not an adult so he took pity on it,” Chhetri said.