It appears that a great quarantine drama starring the pets of one of America's most renowned actors has come to an end with a tweet from Australia's agriculture minister:
In case you haven't been paying attention, here's the back story that explains that unceremonious tweet:
Actor Johnny Depp was thrown into a controversy when Australian Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce threatened to euthanize his dogs.
Joyce was concerned that somehow Depp had brought his dogs to Australia without first placing them under the mandated 10-day quarantine. The AFP reports:
" 'Obviously there's an investigation as to how they came out into Australia. Mr Depp decided that he'd step around our nation's laws,' [Joyce] told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"The actor, who is in Queensland state to film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales', faces a formal interview with quarantine officers as part of investigations into how the Yorkshire terriers were allegedly smuggled in.
"Sydney's Daily Telegraph said Depp and his actress-model wife Amber Heard, who have made no public comments on the issue, told the agriculture department they would fly out with Boo and Pistol on Friday night."
The Agriculture Department said it quarantines all dogs, even if they fly on private jets, to protect from some diseases — such as rabies, ehrlichia, leishmania, leptospirosis and internal and external parasites — that are not present in Australia.
In any case, the department said on Friday that Pistol and Boo boarded a plane en route to the U.S.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports:
"An official media statement later said an officer from the Agriculture Department escorted the dogs — Boo and Pistol — from the mansion where Depp was staying on the Gold Coast to the airport for their flight home.
" 'Two dogs that were brought into Australia without meeting our import requirements have now been exported back to their country of origin,' Mr Joyce said in the 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.' "
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