Queensland’s environment department insisted that magpies should not be removed from the wild and turned into pets.
The bird had been “taken from the wild and kept unlawfully with no permit, licence or authority”, said the department.
The authorities admitted that Molly cannot be released into the wild because it is so habituated to human contact.
Instead, the bird will be placed in a “suitable facility”. But that could be for a long time, given that magpies can live for up to 30 years.
Darryl Jones, a bird expert from Griffith University, said the only option now was for the bird to be returned to its human guardians.
“That animal now thinks it belongs to that family. It should go back to the people,” he told CNN.
“The authorities could say on reflection, with the welfare of the individual magpie in mind, we have decided that the best thing to do for that magpie is to return it to the family,” he said.
Magpies are common in Australia and are notorious for swooping down on people and pecking their heads when they become highly territorial during breeding season.
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