PITTSBURGH (AP) - The county sheriff's office has removed a picture of the Pittsburgh Pirates Parrot mascot's gun license from the sheriff's Facebook page.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2fhsMIi ) reports that underlings hired the Pirate Parrot to appear Monday at Sheriff William Mullen's birthday party. The mascot posed for various photos, including one used to create a bogus gun license that described the Pirate Parrot as a 36-year-old white man with green hair whose stated reason to carry a gun is "self-defense."

Pirates spokesman Brian Warecki tells the newspaper that the team must approve mascot photos before they're posted on social media. The license photo was removed Tuesday after the newspaper inquired about it.

Mullen says that he didn't approve the photo and that "gun licenses are not something to joke about."

Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com

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