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Paul Octopus
Dead
Germany: Paul the
octopus, who took away the millions heart of football fans during the football
World Cup earlier this year, has died here in Germany. Management and staff
of the aquarium were said to be devastated by the news of his death. As
per the reports, he died of natural causes.
“Management and staff
at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle
octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had
passed away overnight,” the aquarium said in a statement.
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Paul had reached the
octopus old age of 2 years and died in his tank on Tuesday morning. A statement
released today by the aquarium in Oberhausen stated, “The so-called psychic
octopus had passed away in the night at the Sea Life aquarium in the western
German city of Oberhausen.
“We had all naturally
grown very fond of him and he will be sorely missed…We may decide to give
Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds, and erect a modest permanent
shrine,” Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll said in a statement.
Paul fascinated the football
fans during the World cup in South Africa with his ‘match predictions’.
Paul has become world famous after he correctly predicted the outcome of
all seven of Germany’s games. He made his predictions by opening the lid
of one of two clear plastic boxes, each containing a mussel and bearing
a team flag. |
He even correctly predicted
the final match of the World Cup played between Spain and the Netherlands,
correctly picking Spain. Paul, however, also made a lot of enemies, particularly
in his native Germany and in The Netherlands, for ‘predicting’ their defeats
in the World cup.
After rising to global
prominence during the World Cup in South Africa, the English-born Paul
was appointed as an ambassador to England’s bid to host the 2018 World
Cup.
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On the one hand, he was
a living creature, and I feel sadness at any death. On the other hand,
he was a psychic fraud, and I have no sympathy for those rascals. On the
other hand, he was a cephalopod, and those especially deserve to thrive.
On the other hand, the hype surrounding him was tiresome and overblown—good
riddance. On the other hand, he was being exploited by his trainers slave
masters, so he hardly deserves the blame. On the other hand, what a waste
of everyone's time to be playing fake psychic games with already boring
football games. On the other hand, he spent his life confined to a really
boring tank instead of savoring the splendor of life in the wild. On the
other hand, he did have a life of safety and security and readily available
food, so it could have been a better life than the typical short and brutal
experience of nature. |
I guess the bottom line is
that I regret the death of the octopus, but am relieved that there'll be
no more of this psychic flim-flam. |
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