'Psychic' Ferret To Predict Euro 2012 Results

Euro 2012 organisers in Ukraine have introduced their answer to Germany's Paul the octopus - Fred the 'psychic' ferret.

It is hoped the mammal will have the same success in predicting the winners of games in this summer's tournament as his eight-legged predecessor did for Germany's matches in the 2010 World Cup.

Fred joins soothsayer hog Khryak in Kiev and Citta the elephant in Krakow, Poland - co-hosts with Ukraine of Euro 2012.

The trio will appear in Fan Zones, where he will choose from plates of food bearing the flags of competing teams - with whichever bowl he eats from being declared the favourite.

Kharkiv Fan Zone project manager Sergiy Kharkov said: "Poland has an elephant fortune teller, if I remember her name right 'Citta'.

"Moscow has a marmoset, Kiev has a hog 'Khryak', and we have the most cute of them all, and the most communicative one, our local Kharkiv's one, born here, ferret Fred.

"(The) ferret will have precisely 15 minutes in the Fan Zone and in this 15 minutes it will have to predict the winning team."

Paul the Octopus, correctly 'predicted' who would win every match Germany played in at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as well as Spain's win over the Netherlands in the final.