The Dogs Johnny Depp Snuck Into Australia Are On Death Row

Johnny Depp is in the doghouse with the Australia government for smuggling his two Yorkshire terriers into the country on a private jet. Australian officials say that actor has until Saturday to send his pooches back to California or they'll be facing a death sentence.

The 51-year-old star is in Australia right now filming the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment, New York Daily News reports. Depp had left the Gold Coast set to go to the U.S. earlier this year to get surgery after he cut his hand on a glass door. When he returned to Australia in April, he apparently snuck in his two furry buddies, Boo and Pistol.

Australia has some strict laws about bringing dogs into the country, and Depp didn't get the proper permits and certification to do so, Australia's Minister of Agriculture Barnaby Joyce said, according to CNN. Dogs that come into the country are required to be quarantined for at least 10 days, a precautionary measure to ensure that non-native diseases like rabies or parasites don't spread in Australia.

Joyce said they discovered Depp's dogs after the actor took them to a dog groomer. Happy Dogz, a salon in Queensland posted on its Facebook page on May 12, "It's an honour to be grooming Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's two Yorkshire Terriers." It was accompanied by an article the Gold Coast Bulletin published where the Happy Dogz owner talked about her experience with Depp's dogs.

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While the Department of Agriculture wouldn't divulge details to CNN about Depp's dogs since they don't comment on individual cases, they did mention that they went to a home in Gold Coast on May 13 and found two pups that were in the country illegally. The dogs are in "home quarantine" right now, according to ABC 7

Joyce said Depp has until Saturday to get his dogs out of the country or they'll euthanize them. "If we start letting movie stars, even if they've been 'Sexiest Man Alive' twice, to come into our nation then why don't we just break the laws for everybody," he said. "It's time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States. After that I don't expect to be invited to the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean."

Some folks are rallying in support of Depp. There's a Change.org petition that's garnered over 4,000 signatures of its 15,000 goal to save the dogs from being seized and killed, saying Joyce's demands "seem so extreme and unnecessary."