A magpie that won a large following on Instagram after befriending an English staffy has been seized by authorities in Queensland.
Molly the magpie was taken in by Gold Coast photographer Juliette Wells, who came across the baby chick while out for a walk during lockdown in September, 2020.
The fledgling had fallen out of its nest and Wells said she and her husband, Reece, decided to take it in to rescue it from certain death.
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Once home, Molly formed a strong bond with one of their pet English staffies, Peggy, and Wells began snapping cute photos of the pair to share on social media.
"It went viral, not intentionally, but people did find it very, very happy and very fun and got a lot of joy out of it," Recce said in a video posted yesterday on Facebook.
The following on Peggy and Molly's social media pages grew to two million as people around the world watched the unlikely friendship bloom.
But that all came to an end earlier this month when the couple said they were left with no choice but to voluntarily surrender Molly to the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI).
"It breaks our heart to make this announcement today," Wells said in the Facebook video.
"We had to surrender Molly to the Department of Science and Innovation as we had a small group of people constantly complaining to them."
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Wells said the department had first made contact with the couple last June. asking for them to surrender Molly, however they had refused.
"We refused as he was thriving in the trees surrounding the property," Wells said, adding he had been accepted into a group of young male magpies in the area.
"After long discussions they left and we thought everything was ok," Wells said.
However, in January, the department contacted the couple again.
"After many discussions and exhausting all avenues to preserve a stable, safe environment for Molly over the past few months, I had to make the toughest decision of my life and I handed a wild bird to be in captivity," Wells said.
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"There was a concern from DESI that we did this to make money from a wild bird.
"This was not my intention at all. I'm a photographer and an artist. One who took extremely cute photos of animals together utilising my talents to make people happy."
A spokesperson for DESI told the ABC that, 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," the DESI spokesperson said.
Recce said he had tried to apply for a permit, however he had to retract the application because of a conflict of interest with the couple's social media pages.
9News.com.au has contacted the department for comment.
