British newspapers can legitimately mock parrots and compare them to psychopaths, the press regulator has ruled, after an unsuccessful complaint that the Daily Star misrepresented the emotions of a pet bird.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) rejected the complaint after the tabloid mocked a “pain-loving parrot” which it Photoshopped with a flat cap to look like a violent character from the TV show Peaky Blinders.

“A pain-loving parrot cackles with glee when his owners hurt themselves,” the Daily Star reported in February under the headline “Beaky Blinders”. “Harry the macaw throws his head back and sniggers like psycho TV character Arthur Shelby in Peaky Blinders if owner Ian Yeates or his partner Keith Maxwell yelp in pain.”

All-Star Parrots, which helped find a home for the macaw in question, complained that the newspaper’s report was both inaccurate and an invasion of privacy. It told Ipso that the reference to a “pain-loving parrot” was incorrect as the birds did not understand the concept of pain. The charity said the parrot’s reaction was learned behaviour.

Among other issues, the charity complained that the article gave the misleading impression that the parrot was neglected in its previous home, which was not the case, and said the Daily Star failed to make clear that parrots were generally difficult pets to keep.

It said the newspaper’s decision to doctor a picture of the bird wearing a flat cap was not a responsible way to portray a parrot to the general public. The charity raised concerns that a Daily Star leader column published the same day inaccurately claimed that the ordeal had left the couple “sick as a parrot”, when this was not the case.

The press regulator acknowledged that the bird charity “found the image of the parrot in a flat cap in poor taste”, but said the editor’s code of practice did not address issues of offence. It cleared the tactics used by the newspaper’s journalist to obtain the story.

Ipso said the Star’s decision to edit a picture of the Harry the macaw to include a flat cap did not breach guidelines on accurate reporting. The landmark ruling leaves the door open for other news outlets to responsibly use similar Photoshopped images when reporting on parrot-based stories.