Johnny Depp’s dogs: Pistol and Boo are flown back home

The most famous dogs in the world have left the country after Johnny Depp agreed to have them exported.

Johnny Depp's Dogs Boo and Pistol in the window at Mick Doohan's house.

The most famous dogs in the world (this week, anyway) have left the country, after their even more famous owner apparently decided exportation was a better fate for his Yorkshire terriers than death.

The departure of Hollywood star Johnny Depp’s pooches Pistol and Boo was announced by Minister of Agriculture Barnaby “bugger off back to the US” Joyce in a statement this evening.

“Two dogs that were brought into Australia without meeting our import requirements have now been exported back to their country of origin,” the statement said.

The yorkies have been quarantined in the luxury surrounds of retired motorbike champion Mick Doohan’s Gold Coast mansion but were escorted by Customs officials to their flight at Coolangatta airport.

The dogs had to leave the country by Saturday to avoid being euthanised.

“A Department of Agriculture officer has escorted the two dogs from the property in Queensland, where they had been held under quarantine order, to the airport for their flight home,” the statement added.

Mr Joyce later tweeted wittily: “Dogs gone.”

Dogs gone.

— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) May 15, 2015

The fate of the dogs, which Depp was accused of bringing into the country illegally, caught international attention this week after Mr Joyce issued the Pirates of the Carribean star with the ultimatum — deportation or death.

Depp, 51, is on the Gold Coast filming for the fifth Pirates 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.

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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.

Mr Joyce told reporters earlier this week 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?”

With television crews camped outside the Gold Coast mansion where Depp is staying during filming, the fate of the dogs made headlines around the world, prompting reactions of shock, sympathy and bewilderment.

Even Mr Joyce appeared to have something of a change of heart, worrying on the ABC that if the US didn’t allow the dogs back in, they would be left stateless.

The Ministry of Agriculture has allayed such fears, however. Mr Joyce said in his statement: “The department issued the necessary export documentation and correspondence to the relevant veterinary authority to facilitate the repatriation of the dogs. All costs associated with returning the dogs were met by the owners.”