Outcry over death threats for Johnny Depp's dogs

AAP

14 May, 2015 01:54 AM4 mins to read

Australia has told Johnny Depp to send his dogs home. Photo/Getty

Johnny Depp's dog groomer says she feels sorry for the Hollywood star after the Australian government ordered Pistol and Boo to "bugger off" or be put down.

Depp arrived in Brisbane last month on his private jet with the Yorkshire terriers in tow without declaring them to Australian customs.

Now Agriculture Minster Barnaby Joyce says the pair of pooches must "bugger off" home within the next two days or they will be euthanised.

Dog groomer Lianne Kent, from Happy Dogz salon in Gold Coast's north, says Depp and his wife, model and actor Amber Heard, must be having a hard time dealing with the situation.

"I'm upset about it. I feel sorry for them," Kent said. "I can't imagine what they'll be going through."

Kent, who groomed the pooches after hours last Saturday for privacy reasons, said they looked and smelled immaculate.

"Dogs usually come in messy when I groom them - but they looked beautiful. They smelled amazing," she said.

"I did a full groom, bath and trimming. They were just gorgeous dogs - they'd just sit there."

Kent may have inadvertently tipped off immigration officials to Pistol and Boo's Australian adventure by sharing photos of them at her salon with the media.

But she's confident the dogs will be sent home to Hollywood in time.

"Really truly, I think the options given, they will go back to America. I can't imagine them being destroyed."

Social media lit up following the news, with one dog lover starting a change.org petition called 'Save Johnny Depp's dogs' that already has more than 1100 supporters. A Twitter page in the dogs' names was started, but the account no longer exists.

Mr Joyce said Depp and Heard won't be receiving any special treatment.

"There is a process if you want to bring animals. You get the permits, they go into quarantine and then you can have them," he said.

"It's time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States."

Mr Joyce hinted that Depp and Heard could be fined for not declaring the pair of pooches.

"I'm going to try and play a nice game here, but it is certainly up my sleeve," he told 3AW radio, adding he has a soft spot for dogs.

"I like dogs that manage to help me muster sheep, muster cattle - you yell at them and you scream at them and they love you for it. It's almost like parliament."

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt said everybody coming into Australia needed to follow the country's very strict quarantine laws.

"Captain Jack Sparrow is going to have his own approach to what he does looking after his dogs," he added.

"I'd hope though that if the dogs were going to put in quarantine that he (Depp) would provide some good soft, chewy toys for them to look at."

Reaction online to threats to kill the dogs was mixed.

Yes, there's a process to bring animals into this country, but does it really warrant threatening to kill Johnny Depp's dogs? #auspol
— Miss Nicolina 👩‍💻 Social Media Specialist (@TheMissNicolina) May 14, 2015

@ThomasMHudson @Barnaby_Joyce Threatening to kill someone's dogs doesn't seem tough. Just moronic. #JohnnyDepp
— Nick Milligan (@NickMilligan_) May 14, 2015