Madrid's main aquarium is rolling out the red carpet to
get Paul, the "psychic" octopus who uncannily forecast Spain's
World Cup win over the Netherlands, to grace the champion country
with a visit.
The Zoo Aquarium sent a request to the Sea Life aquarium in
Oberhausen in western Germany this week to host the mollusc, whose
prescient picks during the tournament propelled him to
international fame, a spokeswoman said.
"We have not received a response," she told AFP.
Paul made correct predictions of the outcome of all seven of
Germany's matches as well as of Sunday's final by choosing to eat a
morsel of food from a box emblazoned with the flag of the winning
team.
TV stations in Germany and Britain broadcast live images of his
decision for the final.
A Spanish town in northwestern Galicia, which celebrates an
annual Octopus Festival has already requested that the salty
soothsayer be allowed to join them as a guest of honour.
Whatever the decision, Paul has been rewarded with honorary
citizenship of the town of O Carballino.
A Spanish wildlife defence group, ADDA, has also suggested that
he be given a spot to live out the rest of his days in a marine
sanctuary in Spain, rather than cooped up in an aquarium.
In octopus terms, Paul is already a pensioner, at the grand old
age of two-and-a-half. Octopuses generally live three years at
most.
The art of match predicting became a dangerous job for the
clairvoyant cephalopod with bitter fans sending death-threat emails
to his German aquarium, saying "we want Paul for the pan."
At one point Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez
Zapatero jokingly suggested sending in a squad of octopus
bodyguards. 