A veteran wildlife carer says authorities endangered the life of a magpie by failing to act on its unlikely pairing with an English staffy.
Hundreds of thousands of online fans followed the relationship between Molly the magpie and Peggy the rescue dog since 2021.
But that came to an end when Molly was voluntarily surrendered to the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) earlier this month.
The department said the magpie was “taken from the wild and kept unlawfully with no permit, licence or authority”.
Wildlife carer Cat Coakes said the department should have intervened earlier.
She started making complaints after nearly three years of inaction.
“The first complaint I made was more than 11 months ago,” she said.
“For nearly 12 months the department has sat on this and I’m a bit tired of DESI not being responsible for its own laws.”
She said animals should not be used as “clickbait”.
“This is a wild bird!” Ms Coakes said.
“In the long-term it’s not going to want to stay and play with pets — it’s a magpie.
“It’s not cute if that animal is suffering long-term detriment and most likely going to go next door and be ripped up by a dog.”
‘Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet’
Gold Coast woman Juliette Wells said she was out walking Peggy in 2020 when she came across Molly as a chick on the ground.
She said she tried to reunite the bird with its parents but had no success and brought Peggy home with her.
That’s when the “real-life Winnie-the-Pooh and piglet story” began.
The bond between the animals was so close that Ms Wells said Peggy started producing milk for Molly when she was first rescued.
But under Queensland law a sick or injured native animal must go into the care of a person with a valid rehabilitation permit.
“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,” a DESI spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the department was investigating the case and it would be “inappropriate to comment further about potential compliance outcomes”.
“The magpie is currently under the care of DESI,” they said.
“Unfortunately, it has been highly habituated to human contact and is not capable of being released back into the wild.
“A process is currently underway to have the magpie placed at a suitable facility.”