Minecraft will patch parrots to protect real-life pets

Minecraft maker Mojang has confirmed it will patch the game's parrots in response to a recent fan outcry.

Parrots are a relatively new addition to Minecraft, and currently are fed using the game's existing chocolate cookie item.

Feed two nearby parrots, like any other Minecraft animal, and they will pop out a baby.

In real life however, far from being an aphrodisiac, chocolate can be lethal to parrots. Because of this, many Minecraft fans have raised concerns the game might encourage young players to feed pet parrots a sweet cookie treat and inadvertently kill them.

A reddit post calling for Minecraft's parrots to be patched has now received 37k upvotes on the official Minecraft subreddit - enough to become the board's most-upvoted post of all time, and for Mojang to take note.

"If Minecraft has any effect on children's behavior, we want it to be a positive one," Minecraft lead creative designer Jens Bergensten told Motherboard, "so we'll change the item used to breed parrots.

"Our reasoning for originally using cookies was twofold; it gave cookies a reason to exist within Minecraft, and it was a subtle reference to the Nirvana song 'Polly.' However, we didn't consider what the chocolate ingredient would mean to real life parrots!"

Parrots are currently only available in the game's PC version. There's no word yet on when they'll land on console - or what they will soon be eating instead.

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