If you’ve been trying to appease our magpie overlords with sacrifices of food, stop right now.
ABC Radio Brisbane listeners say they have been protecting themselves from swooping birds for years with everything from raw meat and cheese to peanuts and dog kibble – but the experts say we could actually be harming them and their offspring.
Brisbane bird and exotic animal vet Deborah Monks has told the station that raw meat and mince is the most dangerous to magpie health because it doesn’t have enough calcium – resulting in weak bones.
Cheese and bread are also off the menu.
Feeding time
Wildlife websites – and some listeners – insisted the carnivores are best left to source their own dinner.
Dr Monks says if you do want to feed a magpie, you should find out what they’d eat in the wild – in short, dead animals and insects.
“My number-one, gold-standard choice would be to feed something like an insectivore rearing mix because that replicates what they would have in the wild,” she said.
She also notes that being super-intelligent, magpies are perfect for interactions with humans: “They are pretty good at training people to give them what they want.”
And that’s why we will be bowing down to them when they take over the world.
