Queensland family’s viral interspecies friendship with magpie and staffies continues with new native bird rescue
An Aussie family, known for the viral interspecies friendship between their two staffies and a magpie, has revealed they’ve been caring for yet another native bird.
The Queensland family behind a viral interspecies friendship between their two staffies and a magpie have revealed they’ve been caring for yet another native bird.
Instagram-famous magpie Molly the magpie was reunited with his staffy friends, Peggy and Ruby, and human carers after returning from a 43-day seizure by wildlife authorities, which made national headlines for weeks.
Molly finally returned to Juliette Wells and Reece Mortensen’s Gold Coast home on April 15 and was reunited with his unlikely best friend, Peggy the taffy.
However this week on their hugely popular Facebook page, the family revealed they had also been looking after another bird.
“Meet Charlie the vulnerable little kookaburra,” the family wrote on Tuesday.
The Mortensens explained Charlie had been in their care after a neighbour discovered him unable to fly following wild weather “over the new year period”.
“He was found by neighbours huddling at the bottom of a tree, they watched for a day and he was all alone and too young to face the world with many dangers around including a stray cat ready for its next feed we were called over to check out the situation,” they wrote.
“Reece was in training for his wildlife licence so with the direction and support of wildlife carers specialising in kookaburras we were able to bring this little kookaburra back to our place.”
Unlike Molly, the famed magpie who struck up a cuddly friendship with the family’s dogs, Charlie was rehabilitated outside for the most part, revealing his own kin were also keeping a watchful eye.
“We kept him outside as much as possible so the kookaburras knew exactly where he was and could come in and feed him which they did,” they explained.
“At times we would count 14 kookaburras keeping an eye on this little one. He would try to fly and achieved short distances but needed practice with his landing.”
Tuesday’s post came after Charlie “found the confidence” to return to the wild.
“It was such an exciting thing to witness and to be part of,” the family wrote.
It has so far been a tumultuous but victorious year for Peggy, Molly, Ruby, Juliette, and Reece.
On March 1, they voluntarily surrendered Molly to the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation after authorities found the couple were not permitted to care for native wildlife.
On April 11, the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) announced the bird would be returned to the family after more than a month in their care, though with a few important conditions.
The couple shared their reaction to the news the following morning, along with a poem.
“After 43 days,” the Instagram post said. “Tears started rolling.”
The bird’s carers have amassed more than 930,000 followers on the Instagram account dedicated to the magpies unlikely friendship with their dog Peggy.
A DESI spokesperson at the time said that Molly’s return hinged on the family applying for a license and agreeing with a range of conditions to ensure the best outcome for the animal’s ongoing health and wellbeing. Some of the conditions for her return included no ongoing commercial gain from the bird or its image, undertaking wildlife carer training, advocating public education to encourage people to appropriately care for native wildlife, and acknowledging the specialist skills required to care for and rehabilitate wildlife, as well as ongoing engagement with DESI to ensure the bird is receiving adequate care and enrichment.
The DESI spokesperson said Molly was returned after the couple demonstrated that they could and would meet the conditions.
In Queensland, magpies and other wildlife protected under the Nature Conservation Act 1992, can only be cared for by licensed carers, who have demonstrated to the department that they have the skills necessary to provide the required specialist care.
The decision to return Molly was guided by an independent veterinary expert, who determined that the bird was “highly habituated” and may have “developmental issues,” meaning it could never be rehabilitated or returned to the wild.
After the announcement, the owners shared an update on their Instagram page, saying that their “hearts are full of happiness” after talking with Queensland Premier Steven Miles, who had stepped in to help amid intense public interest in the case.
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“We want to thank Steven Miles for showing unity & humanity in taking this issue on,” the Instagram caption read.
“We will be speaking to the (department) today to finalise the next steps to bringing Molly home.”
– With NCA NewsWire
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