Story By: Elena Kalioglo, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport

A Russian netizen is selling his ‘fortune-telling’ turtle ‘Donatello’ online for nearly 40,000 GBP because it is apparently able to predict football results like World Cup ‘psychic’ Paul the Octopus.

According to local media, Alexei from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the south-eastern Russian region of Amur Oblast has put ‘Donatello’ the two-year-old turtle, named after one of the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, up for sale on social media.

He reportedly claims that the turtle has extrasensory abilities which it uses to predict the scores of football matches like Paul the Octopus at the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Alexei is said to be selling the reptilian oracle for three million RUB (37,510 GBP).

He explained: “The principle is simple. You write the names of the football teams on pieces of paper and the turtle will go to the winning side so you need to bet on that result.”

Alexei claimed that the fortune-telling turtle won him 100,000 RUB (1,250 GBP) in bets in the spring.

However, he added: “My family urgently needs money, therefore I have decided to part with my beloved turtle.”

It is unclear why Alexei does not simply use Donatello’s alleged psychic skills to raise the funds.

According to reports, no one had responded to his advert yet.

Paul the Octopus made headlines at the 2010 World Cup by successfully “predicting” the outcomes of 12 out of 14 matches by choosing a box filled with food bearing the flag of the winning team.

Netizen ‘Vova Shemelin’ commented: “I reckon there is a moron somewhere who will buy it.”

‘Rashid Ryndin’ said: “Wow, how brazen and stupidly expensive!”

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.