Johnny Depp’s pet dogs are preparing to leave Australia to escape death penalty.
Australia’s Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce had said Boo and Pistol would have to be put down by May 16 if they did not leave, because they were “snuck in” from the US.
Johnny Depp, 51, is currently living in Australia while filming Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Dead Men Tell No Tales.
The actor and his wife Amber Heard are accused of not declaring the Yorkshire Terriers to customs officials when they flew into Queensland by private jet last month.
Australia has strict import laws to prevent non-native diseases entering the country.
The fate of Johnny Depp’s dogs has gripped Australia and world media.
An online petition calling on Barnaby Joyce to spare them now has more than 17,000 signatures and it sparked a debate about the #waronterrier on Twitter.
The dogs should have been properly checked and certificated and then quarantined after arriving in Australia.
Their illicit entry appears to have been uncovered after a grooming salon on the Gold Coast posted pictures of them on its Facebook page.
Barnaby Joyce said on May 14: “If we start letting movie stars… to come into our nation, then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody?
“It’s time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States.”
Meanwhile, the minister had demanded an apology from a radio presenter who accused him of over-reacting.
Kiis FM “shock jock” Kyle Sandilands told Barnaby Joyce in an angry telephone interview on Friday that he sounded “like an absolute clown” who made Australians “sound like a bunch of hillbilly redneck losers” by publicly threatening the life of someone’s pets.
“Sound like a classy guy. You’re a government minister. Have some decency.”
Barnaby Joyce replied “it’s the law, mate; that’s how it works,” before he was cut off.
Customs officials are facing questions over how the dogs were let in despite the strict regulations, while Johnny Depp and Amber Heard could face a fine.
