Molly the Magpie and her Staffordshire Terrier besties Peggy and Ruby could be split up again just months after being reunited.
A wildlife support volunteer and magpie specialist is challenging the Queensland Government’s decision to give the family leave to keep Molly.
In March, Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen had to hand over the male bird after authorities discovered the couple did not have a permit to care for native wildlife.
The decision sparked a public campaign to reverse that decision, which was ultimately successful, 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 remove Molly from her home once again.
“Molly is 100 percent ours and always has been. We just want to keep going and keep moving forward,” Mortensen said. A current issue.
“Four years ago yesterday, when we stumbled upon a little magpie, who would have thought we’d be standing in front of the Supreme Court here in Brisbane?” Wells said.
‘Molly is happy, healthy and full of life. She’s bossy, she barks and she behaves like Molly.’
Molly the Magpie and her Staffordshire terrier besties Peggy and Ruby could be split up again just months after being reunited.
A wildlife support volunteer and magpie specialist is challenging the Queensland Government’s decision to give the family a licence to keep Molly.
“Anytime we’re out in the public eye and things like that, it raises awareness for people to get out and try to do something to help wildlife and get involved,” Mortensen added.
“What we want to try to do is involve as many people as possible in helping wildlife, because there are not many wildlife carers.”
The name of the petitioner who wants Molly removed again is not mentioned in the court documents, leaving the couple frustrated that they don’t know who is behind this.
In July, it was announced that the unlikely friendship between Molly and Peggy would be turned into an animated series.
It will also feature Ruby, 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 profits from the bird or its image.
But Ms. Wells insisted that the animation did not break these rules, as it did not involve the real Molly but only an artist’s rendering.
“We have an experienced legal team and we have been assured that we are fully compliant,” Wells told the programme.
In July, it was announced that the unlikely friendship between Molly and Peggy would be turned into an animated series.
Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen had to hand over the male bird after authorities discovered the couple did not have a permit to care for native wildlife.
‘No real animals are used in this animation apart from any artistic expression.’
The couple previously said they rescued Molly as a chick after she fell out of her nest in 2020.
Originally, Mrs. Wells thought Molly was a woman, but she is actually a man and the name stuck.
Molly’s videos of her playing with the couple’s two Staffordshire Bullmastiffs soon gained her a large online following.