Planes grounded for days as officials hunt rampage of escaped hamsters

More than 130 hamsters escaped their damaged transport crates during a flight from Lisbon, Portugal, to the Azores, plunging the plane into a four-day “nightmare in hamster country”.

When the ill-fated flight, carrying crew, passengers, luggage and a pet trade order that included 132 hamsters, ferrets and birds, landed in the Azores last week, baggage handlers realized the boxes were damaged and the rodents were missing, according to reports from resident in Portugal.

The flight crew acted quickly to retrieve the hamsters before they could start damaging the plane’s electrical wiring.

While 16 were still missing on Sunday morning, all have since been recovered and the plane returned to Lisbon by the end of the day, Portugal Resident reported.