'Psychic' croc picks Aus PM
2010-08-19 12:23
Sydney - A
"psychic" crocodile named Harry tipped Prime Minister Julia Gillard
to win the razor-tight Australian election, siding with pollsters and
bookmakers, and an octopus called Cassandra.
Harry, a feisty five metre
saltwater crocodile, took several minutes to decide before snapping up a chicken
labelled with Gillard's picture, snubbing another carcass representing
opposition chief Tony Abbott.
"Harry's come over to
the area, he's lifted his head in the air and he's just nailed Gillard as clean
as you want," said Nigel Palmer, Harry's handler at Darwin's Crocosaurus Cove
attraction.
"So we're thinking
he's predicted the ranga (red head) to win the election."
Gillard can take heart from
the endorsement after the crocodilian clairvoyant also correctly picked Spain
to win last month's World Cup final against the Netherlands.
"Harry selected Spain
over the Netherlands, so he knows what he's doing," Palmer explained.
Inspiration
Staff at the park were
inspired to test Harry's prescience by German octopus "Paul", who
shot to global fame after correctly calling eight World Cup games including the
final.
Harry, a 750kg beast, is 45
years old and "in his prime", his keeper said, with an aggressive
streak and a reputation as a "handler hunter".
"Nature says that the
crocodiles have been around a lot longer than octopuses, we're talking 40-odd
million years longer," he said.
"So we're sort of
thinking that's his advantage over an octopus, he knows what he's doing."
The Sydney Morning Herald
newspaper's own "psychic" octopus, Cassandra, also called the vote
for Gillard when the election was first called, while opinion polls and punters
give the prime minister a narrow lead.
And what will happen to
Abbott's chicken?
"That'll be turned
into croc poo," Palmer laughed.
- SAPA
