Johnny Depp's wife to face Australian court over pet dogs
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Sydney (dpa) - Hollywood star Johnny Depp's actress wife Amber Heard has been issued a summons to appear in a Queensland court over bringing the couple's pet dogs illegally into Australia, a media report said Thursday.
The couple were accused of smuggling in tiny Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo from the US on their private jet in May, avoiding quarantine, while Depp was filming the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie on Queensland's Gold Coast, the ABC reported.
Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce made world headlines when he said it was time the dogs "buggered off back to the United States".
The couple took the dogs back to the US on their jet a few days later.
Joyce was unrepentant Thursday when asked whether the summons issued to Heard to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on September7 was mean.
"No, it's not. The law is the same for everybody," Joyce told reporters in Perth.
"There is no preferential treatment here. You come into our nation, you have to abide (by) bio security protocols."
He said a rabies outbreak would be catastrophic.
"It's not just the people on the streets that would be affected, if that got out into the general wild dog population in Australia, which is massive, it would have devastating effects.
Heard faces fines of up to 100,000 Australian dollars (73,600 US dollars) or 10 years in jail on charges of two counts of illegal importation contrary to quarantine laws.
Australia is free of many animal diseases that afflict the US and Europe and strict laws require all animals to be confined in special quarantine facilities so as not to introduce diseases.
Airline and ship passengers are banned from bringing in food, seeds and untreated wood and can face hefty fines.
