New York embraces California's unwanted Chihuahuas
14.01.10
NEW YORK — New York is, like, totally awesome -- especially if you're a Chihuahua abandoned in California.
Fifteen of these goggle-eyed living toys, best known for inhabiting the handbags of Paris Hilton and other Hollywood B-listers, became New Yorkers Wednesday after being rescued from the West coast.
The evacuation was in response to what the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) calls the "massive overpopulation of Chihuahuas in California."
Diane Wilkerson, director of the ASPCA volunteer program, blamed a change in Hollywood trends and the sour economy for the increase in homeless Chihuahuas.
But "small dogs are very, very popular here in New York, so there seemed to be a really nice way New York could work with this," she said.
The rescue operation maintained the luxurious standards to which the breed is famously accustomed.
All 15 flew in the cabin of a Virgin America jet from San Francisco last week and took up residence at the shiny ASPCA headquarters in Manhattan.
Source: AFP