• An Airbus A321neo operated by TAP Portugal was grounded to locate 132 escaped hamsters on board.
• The hamsters were part of a pet shop package, previously rejected for cage issues, Portuguese media said.
• Escaped hamsters can pose safety risks as they can chew through electrical cables and wires.

An Airbus A321neo was grounded for several days to track down dozens of hamsters on board, Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã reported.

The report said 132 hamsters escaped from their cages in the cargo hold of the plane, which was operated by Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal — leaving ground maintenance teams trying to track them down.

After four days of effort, 16 hamsters were still loose on Saturday, it added.

Last Wednesday night, the A321neo, registered under the tail number CS-TJR, flew from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada Airport in the Azores, a group of islands around 900 miles from the Portuguese mainland, per Flightradar24.

Correio da Manhã, Portugal's most widely read newspaper, reported that the plane was carrying a package for a pet shop containing ferrets, birds, and 132 hamsters. The plane was also carrying passengers and their luggage.

Sources told the newspaper the animals had been accepted on the flight after being rejected from a previous one because the cages didn't meet standards.

The plane eventually left the Azores on Sunday, according to the data from Flightradar24.

TAP Air Portugal and Ponta Delgada Airport did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

The hamsters could have posed a safety threat because they are capable of chewing through electrical cables and wires.

In a similar incident in 2017, a cargo plane was grounded due to escaped hamsters, Newsweek reported. The pilot shared a video on TikTok of the hamsters exploring the plane.