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By Terry Maxon for DallasNews.com

Did you know that there is a “massive overpopulation of Chihuahuas in California”? Virgin America tells us so.

We could blame Paris Hilton and other celebrities for making the dogs too popular. Maybe the movie “Legally Blonde.” Maybe not.

But hey, this is a serious matter. There was a lot of stories out last month that nippy, yappy Chihuahuas comprise 30 percent, 40 percent or more of the inhabitants at many California animal shelters. Chihuahuas reportedly make up half the dog population in Oakland’s shelters.

So what can you do if you’ve got a surplus of Chihuahuas? That’s right, you send them to the East Coast, and Virgin America is helping Wednesday by hauling a load of the little dogs from San Francisco east to New York to find them new homes.

Here’s from Virgin America’s press release:

“The San Francisco Animal Care and Control couldn’t be more pleased to partner with our hometown airline -on the Chihuahua airlift today,” said director Rebecca Katz.

“We have a severe overpopulation of Chihuahuas here in California. Virgin America’s offer to fly the these little guys out to the East Coast will help us place them into loving homes that they couldn’t have found here in California,” Katz said.

“We’re pleased to help San Francisco Animal Care and Control fly these little guys out to the East Coast so they can be placed in adoptive homes,” said Ross Bonanno, Virgin America’s vice president of airports and guest services.

“As the only airline headquartered here in San Francisco, we take a great interest in our community – and many of our teammates and guests are dog lovers, so of course, we just had to do this,” Bonnano said.

According to Virgin America, the dogs and humans will get the red carpet treatment, “complete with champagne cocktail ‘Chi-mosas’ and cupcakes for flight guests and doggie treats and toys for the Chihuahuas.”

Little did I know about this crisis. But checking around, I find that there have been doglifts going on for some time.

A private donor has paid to ship 100 California Chihuahuas to the Denver Dumb Friends League in Colorado.

American Airlines worked with actress Katherine Heigl and and Kinder4Rescue in Studio City, Calif., to ship a bunch of Chihuahuas to New Hampshire. There have been other shipments.