The caretakers of Molly the magpie released the first photo of the bird after it was reunited with its Queensland family.
It had been over 45 days since it was surrendered. After DESI approved a special license for the bird, it was reunited with its owners, Reece Mortensen and Juliette Wells.
The bird became famous due to its friendship with Peggy, a staffy. It has over 835,000 followers on Instagram.
The photo was captioned by the bird’s caretakers, stating that it is the story of a pair of English staffies and a magpie.
The owners expressed their gratitude for giving them enough space to get back together and said their priority is their pets.
In the photo, the three besties are all cuddled up and are enjoying their reunion.
After returning home, the bird was eager to take a bath. It spent the next hour jumping around and shaking itself off.
The owners were so grateful to have the bird back, and DESI noted that the decision to return it was based on the nature conservation act of 1992.
According to experts, the bird, which was surrendered on March 1, is likely to have developmental issues and can’t be rehabilitated.
The spokesperson for the family noted that the bird’s owners have agreed to keep it as a wild bird and refrain from taking commercial advantage of it. They also plan to train their wildlife carers and continue working with DESI.
DESI noted that the family must perform various roles to raise awareness about the importance of properly caring for native wildlife. These include educating the public about the necessary skills to rehabilitate or care for such animals.