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Madrid – 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 spokesperson 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.
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 spokesperson 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.
