Australia might put Johnny Depp’s dogs down after he imported them illegally

Straya Two

 

It’s been a rough few months for Johnny Depp. He made a bit of a fool of himself with his drunk introduction at the Hollywood Film Awards. He placed second–behind only Adam Sandler–on Forbes’ list of the most overpaid actors in Hollywood. He married Amber Heard, but all signs point to a rocky marriage just a few months after they exchanged vows.

Now, the troubled actor might lose his dogs–and for an especially unfortunate reason. Depp, who owns a home in the Australian city of Gold Coast, recently flew he and his pups there on a private jet. Trouble is, Australia has famously strict laws regarding the quarantine of animals coming into the country. And the Australian government is none too pleased that Depp skirted their laws.

Said Australian Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce: “Mr. Depp has to either take his dogs back to California, or we’re going to have to euthanize them.” And Joyce elaborated on the rationale behind the laws that Depp broke:

 

The reason you can walk through a park in Brisbane and not have in the back of your mind “What happens if a rabid dog comes out and bites me or bites my kid?” is because we’ve kept that disease out. I’ll tell you how close it is: it’s in Bali, it’s just next door. So this is not fanciful stuff, and therefore we’re very diligent about what comes into our nation.

 

Australia’s Courier Mail reports that the country rarely does follow through on its threats to euthanize–because almost every pet owner faced with that thread turns around and takes the animals back to their country of origin.

Depp has left it up to his wife to negotiate with the Australian officials. Heard, for her part, has begun mobilizing a social media campaign:

 

Baby #Pistol #amberheard

A photo posted by Amber Heard (@amberheard_official) on

 

(Photo credits: Depp via WENN; pups via Flickr)


website statistics