Since late 2020, the friendship between Molly the Magpie and Peggy the rescued Staffordshire Bull Terrier (along with Peggy’s daughter, Ruby) has been delighting over two million followers. Their friendship was tragically broken up when wildlife authorities seized Molly on March 1st. Then on April 15, news broke that Molly was being returned and reunited with Peggy and Ruby!
They published their reunion video, and in half a day it’s already received over 600k views, 120k likes, and 24k comments. Countless comments poured in with joy and support, such as Jamie McDowell saying, “So wonderful to see Molly back at his HOME! Tears of joy are flowing as everyone has been waiting so long for the reunion! Separated for no reason! I truly thought Molly would pass from a broken heart. Thank you, God, and everyone who helped bring Molly home!”
And why was Molly arrested? While magpies can be as devious as they are smart, Molly committed no crime. It was due to haters complaining to wildlife authorities about Molly’s wellbeing, as Magpies are wild animals and not pets. Complaints also included Molly being hurt by Peggy the Staffy, despite them clearly being best buds. Also Molly’s humans didn’t have a permit or licence to keep a wild animal such as a Magpie.
Molly’s humans found her as an abandoned chick and took her in. Where she quickly developed a loving bond with her human and doggy family.
Then over the course of a few years, millions of fans also developed a loving bond with them! Their most popular Facebook video below has seen over 100 million views.
Now that Molly has been returned, her humans have received a special license to care for a wild animal that can no longer be released into the wild. But this includes the condition that they can not make any “ongoing commercial gain from the bird or its image.” So it looks like Molly and Peggy’s influencer career is uncertain at this point, but their social media accounts are still active. Molly’s humans are looking into a potential advocacy and public education role, which we will have to wait on.
Peggy and Molly are also published authors, but we’ll have to wait and see if a sequel about all their recent drama is in the works.
You can follow along at @peggyandmolly on Instagram and Facebook.