Blame it on Paris Hilton: the craze for owning small
dogs as fashion accessories has led to an explosion in the number
of chihuahuas in Los Angeles, where tiny canines are
everywhere.
But now an animal-friendly philanthropist has come to their
rescue, organizing an airlift of diminutive pooches abandoned by
impatient owners in California -- jetting them off by private plane
to Canada, of all places.
"In Los Angeles, in particular, we have an overpopulation of
small dogs, many of them Chihuahuas because people think that
having a small dog is easy to maintain in a home," said organizer
Madeline Bernstein.
The phenomenon has increased after films like "Legally Blonde,"
and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" adds Bernstein of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA).
To make it worse, "a significant number of young celebrities
like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, they started to get out with
these little dogs like accessories," she told AFP.
"The problem is, they are not accessories, they are dogs. They
poop, pee and you should take care of them, .. and young people
want them as if they were a nice bag, then they get tired ..and
leave the dogs in the streets or shelters."
There are estimated to be more than 60,000 Chihuahuas in Los
Angeles, where newcomers are often shocked at the luxuries afforded
to the miniature hounds, often petted over like babies in the
street or in cafes and bars.
Owners can choose from a seemingly endless range of dog spas,
boutiques and even schools of canine yoga for their tiny charges --
although the costs involved may possibly help explain why so many
are being abandoned.
Whatever the reasons, animal lovers are determined to rescue
those that they can from a sad and lonely life in a shelter in
California.
That's why on Friday Bernstein and a group of other dog-lovers
took action, strapping some 60 dogs in for a three-hour "Air
Chihuahua" flight from Long Beach, California, to Edmonton,
Canada.
Candy, Kobe, Sadie, Winnie, Taylor and Troudy were among those
heading for a new life further north, a long way from the heat of
California, and even further from the northern Mexican province
from which they get their name.
The spcaLA has been organizing Air Chihuahua flights since
December 2009, to destinations including Colorado, Houston and
Florida. But Friday's 40,000 dollar operation was the first
international airlift.
Jan Folk, a Canadian businesswoman and philanthropist who owns
the plane, said that in southern California animal rescue centers
deal with large volume of strays admitted every day.
"They feel that they would have no other choice but to
eventually euthanize the dogs if they were not transferred," she
lamented to AFP on the tarmac in Long Beach, just south of Los
Angeles.
In Edmonton, "more people are willing to wait for the California
dogs because they know that many .. may come from puppy mills or
brokers where they often live in horrible conditions," she
added.
"The small breed dogs are in such demand that most were adopted
within two or three weeks of arriving in Edmonton. In fact, there
was a line of potential adopters at the Edmonton shelter waiting
for the dogs to arrive!" she said.