Pleasurewood Hills : News and Events from Pleasurewood Hills Theme Park

Pleasurewood Hills owl stars with Russell Crowe in Robin Hood Film

Zeus, an eight-year-old European eagle owl from the Parrot Show at Pleasurewood Hills, is starring in the latest Robin Hood film as Eleanor of Aquitaine's pet.

He spends his time entertaining visitors at Pleasurewood Hills, but has been rewarded with a chance to shine on the big screen alongside Russell Crowe.

He landed the role after attending a casting call in London and being chosen from a line-up by famous director Ridley Scott. Tracy, our animal trainer has spent time working with Zeus to get his performance perfect ahead of filming. He has been trained to sit on the hand nice and still and that’s the shot they eventually used. In the film he is seen resting on the arm of actress Eileen Atkins and she needed to be strong to support him. Zeus is fully-grown and is an average size for a male. But he still weighs a hefty 2kg and has a wingspan larger than an adult's outstretched arms.

Zeus can be seen at the Park performing along side the parrots in the 20 minute daily shows.

In the Wild

Zeus is particularly demanding when it comes to food. He eats day-old chicks and mice, and every now and then gets a little bit of steak, “as a treat”.

And wildlife in Norfolk and Suffolk should be very grateful that he is kept well-fed and locked-up, because his natural diet would be much larger.

“He's a very strong owl. He can catch deer up to the size of a large dog,” she said.

“What they do is kill it and eat what they could, and rest right near it to the following day and eat the rest.”