It’s time to place your World Cup bets – there’s a new psychic animal in town.
A hamster to be precise.
Meet Mini-Merv, the resident psychic at Thatcher’s Pet & Tackle Shop in Wells, Somerset.
Psychic: Mini-Merv in her tank at Thatcher's Pet & Tackle Shop in Wells, Somerset
According to the clairvoyant creature, so christened by the Central Somerset Gazette, England will face Switzerland, Portugal and Iran in the first stage of the World Cup.
Mini-Merv was handed a selection of slips featuring team names and given privacy to make her predictions.
A spokesman for the pet shop told HuffPost UK: “She certainly took her time over it, the process took quite a while.
“We tried with a guinea pig at first but they were too timid.”
Soothsayer: Mini Merv says England will face Switzerland, Portugal and Iran in the first stage of the World Cup
We're hoping Mini-Merv's choices come good as she has some big shoes to fill. In 2010, a German octopus named Paul correctly predicted eight World Cup winners.
And in 2011 a cross-eyed opossom called Heidi achieved nearly a full sweep with her prophecy for the year's Oscar winners.
Let's not forget New Zealand's three-year-old psychic sheep Sonny Wool and his Rugby World Championship predictions of 2011, nor last year's "oracle hog" of the Ukraine.
No pressure then, Mini-Merve.
