Molly the Magpie and her Staffordshire Terrier best friends Peggy and Ruby could be separated once again just months after they were reunited.
A wildlife support volunteer and magpie specialist is challenging the Queensland government’s decision to give the family a licence to keep Molly.
In March, Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen had to surrender the male bird after authorities found the couple did not have a permit to care for native wildlife.
The decision sparked an ultimately successful public campaign for a reversal of that decision, allowing the family to keep the bird and reunite Molly with her canine friends in April.
The family is distraught over the new legal challenge to take Molly from their home yet again.
‘Molly’s 100 per cent, and always has been, our focus. We just want to just move on and just get on with it,’ Mr Mortensen told A Current Affair.
‘Four years ago yesterday, when we came across a little magpie, who would have thought we’d be standing in front of the Supreme Court here in Brisbane,’ Ms Wells said.
‘Molly’s happy, healthy and alive. Bossy, barking and being Molly.’
Molly the Magpie and her Staffordshire terrier best friends Peggy and Ruby could be separated once again just months after they were reunited
A wildlife support volunteer and magpie specialist is challenging the Queensland government’s decision to give the family a license to keep Molly
‘Every time we’re in the public sight and things like that, it raises awareness for people to get out there and try and do something to help wildlife and become involved,’ Mr Mortensen added.
‘That’s what we want to try and do is get as many people involved as we possibly can in helping wildlife, because there aren’t a great deal of wildlife carers out there.’
The applicant attempting to have Molly removed again is unnamed in court documents, leaving the couple frustrated they don’t know who is behind it.
In July, it was announced that the unlikely friendship between Molly and Peggy will be made into an animated series.
It will also feature Ruby, who is Peggy’s daughter, and additional characters, including Sarg, a Jack Russell terrier.
Sarg is described as a ‘government official’ who tries to get in the way of Peggy and Molly’s adventures.
Queensland’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) allowed the family to keep Molly under strict conditions, including that they stop making commercial gain from the bird or its image.
But Ms Wells insisted the animation did not break these rules, as it did not involve the real Molly but only an artist’s representation.
‘We’ve got an expert legal team and they’ve ensured us that we are in complete compliance,’ Ms Wells told the program.
In July, it was announced that the unlikely friendship between Molly and Peggy will be made into an animated series
Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen had to surrender the male bird after authorities found the couple did not have a permit to care for native wildlife
‘There are no real animals used in this animation apart from any artistic expression.’
The couple previously said they rescued Molly as a chick after he fell from his nest in 2020.
Molly was originally thought to be a female by Ms Wells, but is actually a male and the name stuck.
Videos of Molly playing with the couple’s two Staffies soon gained a large online fanbase.
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