Molly the magpie's future revealed after Supreme Court cancels carer's licence
The Department of Environment claims its decision prioritises the 'ongoing welfare' of the famous Australian bird.
Molly the magpie will be allowed to stay with the Gold Coast couple who took him from the wild into their home and turned him into an internet star. The Department of Environment (DETSI) issued a statement to Yahoo News about the magpie's short-term future, saying the “current care arrangement” will be allowed to continue, despite the Supreme Court on Monday cancelling the carer’s licence it issued.
“Our highest priority continues to be the ongoing welfare of the magpie,” a DETSI spokesperson said.
On Monday, DETSI owned up to making an “error” when it issued a licence to the couple behind the Peggy and Molly social media accounts in April, which facilitated the bird’s return.
Ordinarily, wildlife must be surrendered to a licensed care facility within 72 hours of being rescued. But DETSI confirmed it is happy for the bird to stay with the unlicensed couple for now.
“We currently have a process underway that will determine the magpie’s future care arrangements. Our officers have spoken with the licence applicant and advised the current care arrangement can continue while these processes are underway,” it said.
The clarification came after the Peggy and Molly account issued a statement saying, “Molly is happy, safe and enjoying life, nothing is changing”.
“It’s our understanding from talks yesterday that they have absolutely no intention to take Molly from his/our family,” the post continued.
Why was Molly the magpie surrendered?
In March, Yahoo exclusively revealed that Reece Mortensen and Juliette Wells had surrendered the young magpie under pressure from DETSI, who alleged the bird was “taken from the wild and kept unlawfully”. The couple denied this, saying Molly was not “kept” and was free to come and go, and that it had bonded with their pet dogs, Ruby and Peggy.
“We taught him how to forage for food in the garden, we taught him to fly and be independent,” Wells told Yahoo in March.
A medical assessment of Molly that month concluded Molly “seemed reluctant to fly”, but when pressed he could fly short distances of up to two metres, although he could not gain any significant height. The vet also noted signs of “radiographic changes to several bones on both wings” which could relate to an “inappropriate diet as a juvenile bird”, and it was recommended that the bird should never be released.
Why was the action taken in the Supreme Court?
While there was an uproar from fans of the Peggy and Molly account who called for the bird’s return to Wells and Mortensen, wildlife rescuers advocated for it to instead be placed with other magpies, rather than dogs.
After an extraordinary intervention by then-premier Steven Miles who called for a “common sense” approach to be found, Molly was returned to the couple with a proviso they could not profit from the bird. In the lead-up to the October state election, Miles then visited the bird and posed for photos with it on his shoulder.
In September, XD Law revealed to Yahoo it had sought a Judicial Review of DETSI’s decision to grant the licence on behalf of a network of volunteers who rescue and care for injured birds.
“The Department was given the opportunity to show it followed the proper processes and standards in granting the carer's licence, to show that it was not just giving a compliant nod to a premier who wanted photos of himself with a magpie on his head and a couple of social media influencers,” lawyer Jack Vaughan said on Tuesday.
“They failed to show proper reasoning for the licence according to their governing legislation.”
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