Paul, the psychic octopus, who predicted the outcome of every German soccer match and even the World Cup Finals, has been found dead in the aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen on Tuesday. The citizen of both Germany and Spain lived a life of two and a half years, and became a media sensation for predicting the winner of football matches by choosing between two mussel-filled containers adorned with the flags of each team.
The aquarium staff concluded that his death was not completely unexpected, as octopuses live only a few years. Stephan Porwell, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany expressed his disappointment at the death of the world’s most beloved octopus. Porwell even added that his successful predictions made him a bigger story than the World Cup itself.
Before Paul died, he made his final prediction about the venue of the upcoming Fifa World Cup and concluded that England would win the rights to host the biggest festival of the football world.
Hundreds of fans in Spain had requested Paul to be brought there as a result of which the Madrid Zoo tried to strike a deal with Sea Life to bring him for a short time at least as a mark of approbation to the Spanish World Cup winning squad. However, the offer was turned down by the aquarium, as Paul was too valuable to let go.
Paul also had an agent and his name was used to preserve an endangered species of turtles on the Greek island of Zakynthos.
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