Department of Agriculture launches review into Depp's dogs

The Department of Agriculture is investigating how two illegally imported dogs owned by actor Johnny Depp bypassed customs and made it into the country.

The department issued a statement on Thursday afternoon confirming officials found the A-list pooches after attending a Gold Coast property on Wednesday.

It comes after the superstar actor landed in Brisbane on his private jet last month to return to the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on the Gold Coast.

But he failed to declare his canine cargo - Boo and Pistol - to customs.

By the country's strict laws, dogs must be stored in a quarantine facility for at least 10 days after arriving in Australia to prevent conditions such as rabies and parasites coming into the country.

They must also be accompanied by a valid import permit and have undergone relevant testing and health checks signed off by a government veterinarian from the exporting country.

"The dogs have been ordered into quarantine and the owners have been advised the dogs must be exported within 72 hours," the statement read.

"The Department of Agriculture is reviewing how the dogs were brought into Australia without an import permit."

If they're not exported, the animals will be euthanased, the statement said.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said the dogs need to "bugger off" back home in the next two days.

"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.

"If we start letting movie stars - even though they've been the sexiest man alive twice - to come into our nation, then why don't we just break the laws for everybody?

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

Gold Coast dog groomer Lianne Kent, who pampered them at the Happy Dogz salon, said the situation must be `ruff' for the actor and his wife Amber Heard.

"I can't imagine what they'll be going through," she said.

"They were just gorgeous dogs."

The federal opposition questioned how the biosecurity breach occurred on Mr Joyce's watch, given the dogs were only detected at a dog grooming salon.

"On this day the minister would divert attention by bashing up on Johnny Depp ... and poor old Boo Boo and Pistol," Labor's agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon told parliament.