\u201cPeggy and Molly\u201d were a match made for the internet. <\/p>\n
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. <\/p>\n
In the four years since their unlikely bond was posted online, the odd couple has attracted almost two million followers on Instagram and Facebook. <\/p>\n
But in an emotional video posted online Tuesday, Peggy\u2019s owners, Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen,\u00a0announced that the animals had been separated. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt breaks our heart to make this announcement today,\u201d said Wells. \u201cWe had to surrender Molly to the DES \u2013 Department of Science and Innovation \u2013 as we had a small group of people constantly complaining to them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fans online were quick to demand justice. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a classic example of bureaucracy over common sense and humanity,\u201d one user wrote on Instagram. \u201cOur tax-payer funded departments should be using their resources to help out the community and save mis-treated wildlife, not harm them!!\u201d said the comment, which attracted more than\u00a01,000 likes. <\/p>\n
However, a spokesman for the Department of Science and Innovation (DESI) said in a statement the bird had been \u201cillegally\u201d taken from the wild and been kept with \u201cno permit, licence or authority.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnimals 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,\u201d the statement added. \u201cAnimals from the wild, must stay wild.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wells found Molly in a local park, apparently abandoned as a chick, according to a long post on Facebook. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were very concerned because the park was an off-leash dog park in the afternoons and up to 30 dogs of all breeds run around crazily we knew this little bird would not stand a chance. So, we did what any animal lovers would do and made the decision to bring him home and care for him,\u201d the post said. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver the next few months we nurtured this magpie, taught him how to feed, fly and put him outside as much as possible because our goal was to get him back out into the wild.\u201d <\/p>\n
But Molly didn\u2019t leave, and bonded with their dog Peggy. <\/p>\n
During the pandemic, Wells posted images of the animals together to social media with motivational slogans \u2013 \u201cDays spent with you are my favourite days\u201d and \u201cYou are my Happy Place.\u201d <\/p>\n
The animals attracted a huge online following. <\/p>\n
T-shirts were printed, calendars sold, then a deal was signed with one of the country\u2019s biggest publishers. <\/p>\n
The resulting book, \u201cPeggy and Molly,\u201d was marketed as \u201cheart-warming photos and simple life lessons about what it means to be a true friend and how we can all learn to be kind, humble and happy.\u201d <\/p>\n
But not everyone was happy about the development. <\/p>\n
Wildlife officials worried that others would follow their lead of domesticating wild animals in the hope of profiting online. <\/p>\n
Wells and Mortensen are now mobilizing an internet campaign to pressure authorities to give back the bird, a protected species in Australia. <\/p>\n
Followers are being urged to write to their local member of parliament and the director general of the department. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking why a wild Magpie can\u2019t decide for himself where he wants to live and who he wants to spend his time with,\u201d the couple said in their online post. <\/p>\n
In its statement, the DESI said there was no option to release the bird to the wild as it had become \u201chighly habituated to human contact.\u201d <\/p>\n
It would be placed in a facility, the statement said, which could be a long stay \u2013 magpies are known to live up to 30 years. <\/p>\n
Jones, from Griffith University, who has written a book about his own experience raising a magpie, said taking the chick home was \u201cthe worst possible thing that [the couple] could have done.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said feeding birds is not uncommon in Australia \u2013 \u201cevery second person you meet is feeding a magpie somewhere\u201d \u2013 but there was a difference between allowing them to roam in your garden and taking them into your home. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a good thing to take animals from the wild and turn them into pets. It\u2019s not something to be recommended, and that\u2019s why there are strong rules about that sort of thing,\u201d Jones said. <\/p>\n
But now that Molly has become a family pet, the best thing would be for the DESI to return it, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe authorities could say on reflection, with the welfare of the individual magpie in mind, we have decided that the best thing to do for that magpie is to return it to the family,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Bernard Ashcroft, CEO of Wildlife Rescue Australia, said the law prohibits people from taking wild animals as pets, for good reason. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not appropriate that people have a magpie simply because it appeals to them. If they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing they can cause a bit of harm,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cDifferent birds have different nutritional needs.\u201d <\/p>\n
Late Wednesday, the department released a statement that suggested the campaign to reunite Peggy and Molly may be gaining some traction. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe department shares the community\u2019s desire to ensure Molly is cared for in the most appropriate way going forward,\u201d the statement said, without providing further detail. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cPeggy and Molly\u201d were a match made for the internet. Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. In the four years since their unlikely bond was posted online, the odd couple has <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}