Paul, the oracle octopus, was right again as Germany was defeated by Spain today in the semi-final match of the World Cup.
But being clairvoyant doesn’t always come with all the glory that one would think; Paul is now receiving death threats.
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Having accurately predicted that Germany would beat Argentina in the quarter-finals, Paul faced the wrath of angry Argentinian supporters who have blamed the octopus for their World Cup exit and expressed a desire to eat him in an act of vengeance.
But Paul’s keeper Oliver Walenciak remains confident that the octopus will continue performing his remarkable act for years to come from the safety of his tank in Oberhausen as opposed to the dinner table.
He said: “There are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive.”
Paul is able to make his predictions courtesy of Walenciak and his staff who place two containers filled with mussels and a flag to represent each football nation into his tank.
The container selected by the hungry octopus is assumed to be the predicted winner and so far Paul has a 100 per cent success rate for all five of Germany’s fixtures during World Cup 2010, including their 1-0 defeat to Serbia.
“It started two years ago at the European Championships when Paul became the oracle for all of Germany’s games and we thought he could do it for the World finals as well,” said Walenciak.
Full story here.
Source: Telegraph
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