Virgin America's 'Operation Chihuahua' Dogs Stranded In San Francisco After Hurricane Irene

This article comes to us courtesy of SF Weekly's The Snitch.

By Erin Sherbert

You aren't the only one who was bumped from your flight to the East Coast after Hurricane Irene hit, canceling hundreds of flights. San Francisco's latest crop of New York-bound Chihuahuas had to postpone their move to the Big Apple.

Don't you just hate flying?

As readers might recall earlier this year San Francisco's Animal Care and Control put two dozen dogs on a first-class flight to New York City, where apparently the purse pups are in high demand.

For some reason, San Francisco continues to experience an alarming overpopulation of the yappy dogs, which is why the city has teamed up with Virgin America airlines for Operation Chihuahua, flying dozens of dogs to the East Coast. The airline had planned to ship another group of Chihuahuas with a red-carpet send off this morning, complete with chi-mosas, of course.

But Mother Nature has impeded travel once again and the homeless dogs were bumped from their flight to make room for the many frustrated people who have been stranded at SFO, says Deb Campbell, a volunteer with the Animal Care and Control.

"Even though the Chihuahuas are temporarily grounded, the airline is keeping the dogs on standby for a rescheduled airlift later this year under clearer skies," ACC said in a statement.

In the meantime, the agency is asking you to help them out with this massive overpopulation problem and adopt the dogs -- they will even give you a 50 discount! ACC is now at maximum capacity and has no more space for incoming dogs.

More on the Chihuahua overpopulation issue and the SF ACC can be found at: www.animalshelter.sfgov.org.

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