Johnny Depp’s Dogs Leave On A Jet Plane To Avoid Strict Quarantine Laws

It seems poor Johnny Depp has had a bad run of luck since filming began on his latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. First he injured his hand and had to fly out for surgery and to recover. Then there were the rumors he had gone missing due to him not returning back to Australia on his scheduled flight.

Now it seems when he did return to Australia, Depp smuggled in his two canine companions, Boo and Pistol. According to Australian quarantine laws, Johnny Depp should have applied to have the animals enter the country and then they should have been placed in quarantine to make sure the two Yorkshire terriers didn’t bring anything like rabies into the country (Australia is currently free of this disease). But Depp didn’t do that, instead opting to fly his fur-babies in via private jet.

While Australia’s strict quarantine laws state animals will be euthanized if not removed immediately from the country, this is an event that rarely occurs. But the fear of losing his two beloved dogs was enough to board Boo and Pistol back onto a plane and send the pooches back home, according to reports just coming in from Australian news outlets. Channel Seven News reported the dogs have now officially left the country, but according to the Sydney Morning Herald, security was on standby to make sure Johnny Depp’s dogs didn’t make a run for it. The Australian senator who told Johnny Depp his dogs would need to leave the country, Barnaby Jones, also took to social media to report of the dogs departure.

Dogs gone.

— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) May 15, 2015

Australia’s customs policies are in place for a very good reason, as the Age newspaper pointed out, Australia has had several biosecurity risks enter the country over the years, including the cane toad, red fire ants, and myrtle rust, all of which have had staggering impacts on the landscape. However, Depp fans still took to social media to voice their disgust at the harsh way in which Barnaby Joyce addressed Johnny Depp in relation to his dogs, using the hashtag #WarOnTerrier. Approximately 4,000 people also signed a petition to keep the animals in the country.

Johnny Depp’s dogs were only noticed as being illegal immigrants after the groomer he took them to posted images of his dogs to social media. This is something they claim they had permission to do, but after irate fans targeted the dog groomer, they then had to issue the following statement.

“1. I DID get permission from Mr Depp’s team to post the photos on social media.

“2. Yes Mr Depp did the wrong thing by not declaring the dogs at the airport when he arrived.

“3. Yes I support what the government is doing in the sense of insisting that the dogs get sent straight home — I don’t believe they should be put down.”

While Joyce is firm in his belief Johnny Depp’s dogs should not have entered the country without the proper procedures, there is still the question that needs to be asked: “How did Johnny Depp’s dogs get into the country undetected and why did it take such a long time to discover this breach considering Depp returned to Australia back in April?”

As yet there has been no reports as to whether Johnny Depp will face further quarantine charges.

[Image credit Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]