It was a difficult task for the maintenance personnel.
A TAP Portugal airliner was stuck on the Azores airport runway for four days after more than 130 hamsters broke out of their cages and invaded every corner of the Airbus 320.
Baggage handlers at Ponta Delgada Airport on the Portuguese island of São Miguel notice animal transport being chewed up, stowaways chewing on the plane's electrical wires and damaging other vital parts. As they made a mad dash ahead to find the stowaway, confusion spread. .
Local news outlets said the hamster was part of a zoo, including ferrets and birds, and was to be sold at a pet shop on the island. Correio da Magnhão.
The vicious rodent was reportedly scheduled to be put on an earlier flight, but was denied entry due to the poor condition of its cage.
Maintenance crews spent several days combing the plane for the diminutive fugitives, eventually finding all but 16.
After one last push to find the remaining hamsters, the plane finally returned to Lisbon.
From rats to otters to buzzing swarms of mosquitoes, animals have been known to occasionally wreak havoc on planes after making their way onto the plane.
