This flock of friends only contains one bird.
Molly the magpie and Peggy and Ruby the Staffordshire bull terriers have a special bond that started two years ago, when Juliette Wells and her partner Reece found a baby bird in need at a dog park near their home in Queensland, Australia.
“It was magpie breeding season,” Juliette told PEOPLE of when she first met Molly. “Sometimes, magpie parents force babies out of the nest because the parents had too many, or there is not enough to feed all the babies.”
“So this one day, we were taking Peggy for a walk, and there was this tiny, cute magpie baby wandering around,” she added.
After spotting the bird, Juliette and Reece, along with Peggy, waited at the off-leash dog park for several hours to see if the baby magpie’s parents would help the bird.
“They didn’t want to have anything to do with this little bird,” Juliette recalled.
So Juliette and Reece took the baby bird home and contacted their friends in wildlife rescue about caring for the magpie. Unfortunately, none of the wildlife rescues the couple knew had space to take the baby bird, so Juliette and Reece decided to raise the abandoned animal with guidance from their experienced wildlife rescue friends.
And since then, “Molly has never left, which is good for us,” Juliette said.
At first, Peggy the pup didn’t know how to handle the addition of a baby male magpie, who Juliette and Reece named Molly.
“After a few days, she started to be more inquisitive,” Reece said of the dog. And once Molly became curious about Peggy, the two animals started to form a friendship, which included rolling around on the ground together, Peggy giving Molly piggyback rides, and sharing nap sessions.
The pair got so close that Peggy, who was in heat at the time, “went into a phantom pregnancy,” according to Reece, and started producing milk for the baby bird.
Once Molly grew and got stronger, Juliette started posting photos of the bird’s friendship with Peggy on social media.
The adorable relationship ended up getting “so much attention.”
“People were shocked at the relationship between the two of them and how they were always together and loved lying together and going to sleep together,” Juliette said.
Peggy and Molly’s Instagram @peggyandmolly now has over 192,000 followers — and an additional star was recently added to the account: Peggy’s puppy Ruby.
Ruby and Molly connected almost instantly after the puppy’s birth and started forming their relationship before the dog was born.
“Molly used to stand on Peggy’s back and sing to the puppy in Peggy’s stomach while she was pregnant,” Juliette said, adding, “so as soon as Ruby was born, she and Molly were the best of friends.”
Ruby’s arrival has changed Peggy and Molly’s relationship a bit. The mother dog is protective of her puppy, especially when it’s the magpie’s mating season, and Molly is more aggressive.
During these periods, Juliette and Reece make sure that all the animals get the space they need to cohabitate peacefully, which includes letting Molly outside “to get to know his local bird friends and environment.”
While the unlikely friends’ Instagram is full of sweet photos of the animals, the creature’s caretakers are also honest about the hard work of looking after a wild animal and several dogs.
“It’s important that people know the reality and the work we are putting into making this possible,” Juliette said. She and Reece took Molly in because they have a community of wildlife rescuers to help them.
Juliette added that she hopes the trio’s account and friendship inspire Peggy, Molly, and Ruby’s Instagram followers.
“I try and put across love and acceptance. Basically, these animals are different, but they don’t really care about that. They accept each other for who they are. I mean, you’ve got a dog that has the jaws to crush a bird to death, and you’ve got this magpie that could stab the dog’s eyes out. But they’re not. They’ve never been aggressive with each other,” she said.
