Things tend to be big in Texas, but not the passengers expected to arrive in Houston from Los Angeles aboard United Airlines flight 592 later today.
The special delivery will consist of 20 Chihuahuas and other small mixed-breed dogs, of which L.A. has an abundance, and cities like Houston not nearly enough, according to the Los Angeles chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCALA). The program has been running since 2010.
According to the society, Los Angeles, with 60,000 registered Chihuahuas, had more than enough to go ’round, while in cities in New York, Colorado, Washington, Texas and Florida, there is “abundant demand” for the breed.
The doglift has even gone international, with the first batch of Chihuahuas transported to Edmonton, Canada, in February, 2011.
Today’s flight to Houston, which will include the 500th passenger aboard “Air Chihuahua,” will be followed by another to Miami on Sept. 30, according to the SPCALA website.