Plane grounded for five days in Portugal as 130 HAMSTERS escape cages sparking mass search for cable-eating rodents
A FLIGHT has been grounded for five days after 130 hamsters escaped their cages in a “mass prison break” in Portugal.
They were found roaming around the cargo area of the Airbus 320 after baggage handlers discovered their damaged cages when the flight touched down at an airport in Azores.
Workers have been desperately trying to round up the power cable-eating rodents since the mass escape on Tuesday, but 16 are still said to be on the loose.
The hamsters were reportedly part of a delivery for a pet shop on the island which also included ferrets and some birds.
Authorities began searching for them after passengers on board the plane disembarked and their luggage was removed.
The mass break-out forced the flight to be grounded instead of continuing the journey to Lisbon where it had started its journey from.
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Sources told a local newspaper that the animals had been accepted on the flight after being turned away from an earlier one because the cages “didn’t meet accepted standards”.
TAP Air Portugal, the airline operating the flight, has yet to make any official comment.
Pictures released by the airport staff show the rodents running around the plane.
Workers can be seen wearing gloves to protect themselves from the animals’ sharp gnashers have been published.
Hampster’s incisors are said to be stronger than metals like iron and copper.
They like to munch on cables and wires which could potentially damage the aircraft.
Hamster owners are advised to make sure all loose electrical wires and cords are tucked out of sight behind appliances or confined to areas where pets cannot get to them.
One online advice site says in a blog titled: ‘What to do if your hamster escapes’: “Check anything that has wires – the back of a TV/internet box/anything with electrical wires that is on floor level really.
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“Hamsters love to chew and bite and once a wire is bitten not only will you have to replace a cable, but you may also have a deep-fried hamster (nope, that’s not a foreign delicacy).
“If you can see your hamster lurking by wires you can grab them or try to usher them into a different space just to take them away from potential danger.”
In 2016, hundreds of hamsters broke loose inside a Boeing jet that was forced to stay on the ground.
The pilot of the AMsertdam-bound flight said at the time: “We came to the aircraft, and the mayhem just happened.”
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In 2006, a hampster secretly being carried by a passenger escaped from their bags to cause chaos on a plane to Austria.
The flight from Mallorca, Spain was forced to make a stop in Innsbruck so officials could search for the hamster and make sure it didn’t gnaw through any wiring, the airline said.
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