Magpie and dog ‘besties’ separated by authorities could ‘soon’ be reunited

Through their Instagram account @peggyandmolly, the couple, Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen, chronicle the dog and magpie’s daily adventures for 813,000 followers. They also published a book about Peggy and Molly, and sell calendars and postcards featuring the duo.

But Peggy and Molly’s rising popularity also attracted the attention of wildlife authorities. The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) successfully demanded that Molly be surrendered into its care after receiving complaints from members of the public, saying that Wells and Mortensen did not have the proper permits to look after a wild bird.

Now, Peggy and Molly could soon be reunited — after fans called for Molly to be sent back, and Queensland Premier Steven Miles said Tuesday that Wells and Mortensen can “secure the appropriate licence” to care for the magpie.

“It’s good news and means Molly can come home very soon,” Miles said.

The update from Miles, who is the head of government in the northeastern Australian state, comes after Wells and Mortensen mounted a public campaign to regain care of Molly, aided by fans and public figures, including American world surfing champion Kelly Slater.

“Help us in our fight to return Molly the magpie home,” said Mortensen in a video posted to their Instagram page, asking their followers to email their local members of Parliament and officials at DESI about their case. An online petition had gathered nearly 155,000 signatures .

After the public outcry, Miles had said that wildlife authorities stood “ready to train Molly’s parents to be wildlife caregivers, to get them the right certification, so Molly can be reunited with her family.”

Molly’s owners previously said they did “everything” they could to obtain the right permits and training.

On Tuesday, Miles said DESI would work with Wells and Mortensen to help them do so.

Though wildlife regulation in Queensland states that “some exotic and native birds may be kept privately,” only licensed volunteer wildlife caregivers can keep and look after injured wild animals long-term. A DESI spokesperson told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Molly the magpie was “taken from the wild and kept unlawfully with no permit, licence or authority.”

Wells and Mortensen have argued it’s in Molly’s best interest to stay with them. “We are asking why a wild magpie can’t decide for himself where he wants to live and who he wants to spend his time with,” they wrote on Instagram.

Peggy and Molly are the latest animals to get caught up in tensions between pet owners and wildlife authorities. Social media videos of animals exhibiting unusual or humanlike behavior are growing in popularity, but experts say many wild animals are not meant to live in domesticated settings, and they have warned about risks to the animals and their owners because of the spread of disease.

Wells said she was walking outside in the fall of 2020 when she came across a baby magpie that had fallen from its nest. She rescued it from “certain death,” she said, and brought the magpie home.

“Peggy needed something to nurture and Molly needed nurturing,” says a website about their story, and the duo became “besties.”

About a year later, Peggy had five puppies. Molly “became very close to all” of them, and “now has an incredible bond” with one of them, named Ruby, according to the website.

In the past 3½ years, near-daily videos posted on the @peggyandmolly Instagram account have shown Molly, Peggy and Ruby sharing toys and napping next to each other in the sun — and suggest that the magpie even learned to imitate Peggy and Ruby’s bark.

In another video, Molly puts a wing over its friend on a dog bed.

Though the videos are popular, Wells said multiple complaints have been made to authorities about Molly’s situation. Cat Coakes, a wildlife caregiver who told ABC she complained to DESI about Molly, said animals should not be used as “clickbait.”

“In the long-term it’s not going to want to stay and play with pets — it’s a magpie,” Coakes told ABC.

Australian authorities have warned the public that some magpies can be “aggressive towards people” when defending their nests, particularly during what’s known as “magpie swooping season,” typically between July and November. Videos of Australians being chased by magpies have gone viral, and the Queensland government has warned the public to “stay safe from swooping magpies.”

Now, Molly is in the care of DESI. A spokesperson told ABC that “animals in rehabilitation must not associate with domestic animals due to the potential for them to be subjected to stress and the risks of behavioural imprinting and transmission of diseases.”

“Unfortunately,” the spokesperson added, in Molly’s case, the bird “has been highly habituated to human contact and is not capable of being released back into the wild.”