Johnny Depp’s dogs, Pistol and Boo, facing the plank

The Department of Agriculture is looking into how Johnny Depp’s dogs bypassed customs and entered Australia illegally.

Pistol (left) and Boo with Lianne and Ellie Kent of Happy Dogz Salon, Maudsland, where they were recently dropped off for grooming. Picture supplied by Lianne Kent

Update: The Department of Agriculture is now investigating how Johnny Depp’s two illegally imported dogs bypassed customs and made it into the country.

The Department of Agriculture issued a statement on Thursday afternoon confirming officials found the A-list pooches after attending a Gold Coast property on Wednesday.

By the country’s strict laws, dogs must be stored in a quarantine facility for at least 10 days after arriving in Australia to prevent conditions such as rabies and parasites coming into the country.

They must also be accompanied by a valid import permit and have undergone relevant testing and health checks signed off by a government veterinarian from the exporting country.

“The dogs have been ordered into quarantine and the owners have been advised the dogs must be exported within 72 hours,” the statement read.

“The Department of Agriculture is reviewing how the dogs were brought into Australia without an import permit.” If they’re not exported, the animals will be euthanased, the statement said. AAP

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Depp’s dogs told to bugger off

One of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Johnny Depp, has been accused of unlawfully smuggling his dogs Pistol and Boo into Australia and now risks having them euthanised.

Depp, 51, is on the Gold Coast filming for the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie but his two Yorkshire terriers, believed to have been flown in on the actor’s private jet, have not been through the relevant quarantine checks.

The Department of Agriculture said any animal that was imported without meeting Australia’s import conditions would be ordered into quarantine and either exported or destroyed.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said it was time Pistol and Boo “buggered off back to the United States”.

“Basically it looks like he snuck them in,” Mr Joyce said in Canberra.

“If we start letting movie stars – even though they’ve been the sexiest man alive twice - to come into our nation then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody?”

Mr Joyce said the department became aware of the pooches when they were taken to a local poodle groomer.

“Mr Depp has to either take his dogs back to California or we’re going to have to euthanise them. He’s now got about 50 hours left to remove the dogs,” he said.

“He can put them on the same charter jet he flew out on and fly them back out of our nation.”

The Daily Telegraph reports that the department is understood to have already made contact with Depp’s wife, actor and model Amber Heard, and she is in negotiations to save their lives.

A Change.org petition to save the dogs from being euthanised has already been established.

“They’re two innocent, cute little puppies. Have a heart Barnaby Joyce. Let the puppies stay!” the petition reads.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said Mr Joyce had chosen to blame Depp’s “two cute puppies” for a serious failing in the country’s biosecurity system.

“This is just a distraction from the key issue; how was the breach of our border security allowed to occur in the first place? By Barnaby Joyce’s own admission, the undeclared entry was only detected when the dogs were seen entering a ‘poodle groomer’,” Mr Fitzbiggon said.

“Instead of grandstanding before the media, Barnaby Joyce should be answering the hard questions about the breach and what role his biosecurity funding cuts may have played.”

ROSIE LEWIS