Johnny Depp jokes about Australian dog drama

Johnny Depp has poked fun at the immigration furor surrounding his dogs' recent visit to Australia, after a government official threatened to have the pets put down for violating quarantine regulations.

The actor and his wife Amber Heard came under fire from authorities Down Under in May (15) when it was discovered they had taken two Yorkshire terriers, named Pistol and Boo, into the country without filling out the proper paperwork or going through required quarantine procedures.

They flew the dogs back to the U.S. via private jet after Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce threatened to have the animals killed if they remained in the country, where Depp was filming the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

The 52 year old is now facing a possible 10-year prison sentence and a hefty fine for illegally smuggling the pooches into Australia, while Heard has been summoned to appear in court in Queensland on Monday (07Sep15) to answer two charges of illegal importation and one count of producing a false document after she was served with the legal documents in July (15).

She had previously blasted Joyce as a "rogue thug" for threatening her dogs' lives, adding, "It's a sad state of affairs that that made such headline global news."

Now Depp has joked about the international scandal, telling the press at the Venice Film Festival in Italy on Friday (04Sep15), "I killed my dogs and ate them under direct orders from some kinda, I dunno, sweaty, big-gutted man from Australia", an apparent reference to Joyce.

Depp is in Venice to promote his new gangster movie Black Mass, a biopic about notorious Boston kingpin James 'Whitey' Bulger.