Johnny Depp’s Yorkshire Terriers Boo and Pistol have been flown out of Australia after facing being put down, the country’s agriculture minister has said.
Barnaby Joyce tweeted: “Dogs gone.”
Johnny Depp was accused of not declaring the dogs to customs officials when they flew into Queensland by private jet in April.
Thanking Johnny Depp and his wife Amber Heard for co-operating, Barnaby Joyce said Australia had “strict biosecurity requirements for good reasons”.
Australia’s agriculture minister had given Johny Depp a deadline of May 16 to return the dogs to the US or they would be put down.
Australia’s quarantine regulations aim at preventing diseases such as rabies reaching its shores.
Barnaby Joyce has been criticized for his strong stance, with thousands signing a petition to spare them. He received praise and condemnation from people using the #WarOnTerrier hashtag.
The minister defended his position by saying: “If we start letting movie stars… to come into our nation, then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody?”
The dogs’ illicit entry appears to have been uncovered after a grooming salon on the Gold Coast posted pictures of them on its Facebook page.
Biosecurity officials then visited the vast Gold Coast house Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are renting on May 13 and ordered the dogs into quarantine.
Johnny Depp is in Australia to shoot the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cszvCdH-Ln0
