Who let the dogs in? US airline in biosecurity breach

October 10

A major international airline has its tail between its legs after failing to declare the arrival of two dogs into Australia, in an echo of a pet fiasco involving Johnny Depp.

United Airlines failed to report the arrival of the dogs on flights to Brisbane in March and Sydney in December 2022, breaching biosecurity laws.

Prescribed measures for disinsection of aircraft – the use of insecticide for insect and disease control – were also not met in August 2023 and the airline did not provide biosecurity officers with information when requested in the same month.

The biosecurity threat of the breaches was nullified by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Biosecurity deputy secretary Justine Saunders said the unchecked importation of live animals into Australia posed an unacceptable biosecurity risk.

“Australia is currently free of many exotic pests and diseases such as rabies, which can be transmitted from dogs to humans,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

“The entry, spread and establishment of rabies would have devastating impacts in Australia.”

United Airlines entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Australian government in August, agreeing to revise internal processes, systems and training over the next 15 months.

Its compliance will be monitored by the department.

Enforceable undertakings are a collaborative and more cost-effective way of ensuring long-term biosecurity compliance than lengthy court proceedings, Ms Saunders said.

United Airlines has been approached for comment.

Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard had to issue a video apology for sneaking their two Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia.

Former Hollywood couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard fell foul of Australia’s biosecurity laws after sneaking pets Pistol and Boo into the country in 2015.

Then-agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce threatened to euthanise the dogs if Mr Depp did not take them back to the US.

Ms Heard pleaded guilty to providing a false document to customs officials and was sentenced to a one-month good behaviour bond.

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