The Belgian Beaver Bandit - Snap Classic

Summary

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Snap Judgment: "The Belgian Beaver Bandit – Snap Classic"

Date: July 2, 2026
Host: Glynn Washington
Guest/Protagonist: Olivier Rubbers
Producer: David Exume

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Episode Overview

This episode of Snap Judgment tells the cinematic, true-crime-style—albeit quirky and upbeat—story of Olivier Rubbers: the Belgian man who illegally reintroduced beavers into Belgium after they had disappeared from the region for centuries. Fueled by environmental passion, bureaucratic frustration, and a touch of outlaw spirit, Olivier goes from bored office worker to the infamous “Belgian Beaver Bandit.” His tale exemplifies persistence, bending the rules, and the unintended consequences of well-meaning renegades.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Spark: Why Beavers?

• Olivier Rubbers (C) discovers that beavers were indigenous to Belgium but had vanished due to over-hunting for their fur in the 18th century. An article and a friend's farm named “Ferme de Castor” (“Farm of the Beavers”) bring the issue to his attention.
• Quote:

  “Farm of the Beavers sounded to me like Farm of the kangaroos. I mean, we don't have kangaroos… But [my friend] said, the beaver is indigenous.”
  — Olivier (03:00)

The Environmental Motivation

• Realizes beavers are "nature’s engineers," creating wetlands and habitats for multiple species; bringing beavers back would be, in his words, “reintroducing a kind of engine that would produce nature.” (04:14)
• Despite having no biology background (he works in a cubicle as a product manager), he wants to do something significant with his life.

The Bureaucratic Roadblocks

• Olivier officially proposes the project to the Belgian Ministry of Nature Conservation but is denied for not being a qualified scientist. Authorities prefer a slow, scientific approach—a process Olivier sees as endless red tape.
• Quote:

  “I was afraid to be trapped in a process… scientific studies and then at the end of the day, it leads to nothing.”
  — Olivier (07:05)

The Heist: Smuggling the Beavers

Initial Planning (07:37–12:33)

• Contacts a Bavarian (German) beaver supplier willing to help if official authorization is given. Olivier finds a legal loophole: European directives hadn’t been enforced into Belgian law.
• Enlists Achille (his friend) and gets his father's support (and car).
  • Notable quote from his dad:

    “If some people of the administration don't agree, that's absolute proof it's a good project, so just do it.”
    — Olivier’s father (13:57)

The Road to Bavaria & First Beaver Pickup (14:41–18:27)

• Meets Gerhard Schwab (“German Indiana Jones”), a legit beaver conservationist, who asks for paperwork. Olivier fakes it with a stack of French-stamped documents (15:20).

• First encounter:

  “I had never seen a beaver before. Never. Wow, it's huge… A beaver has about the volume of an 11-year-old child.”
  — Olivier (16:00)

• Catching the beavers is chaotic and daunting—they use butterfly nets and have to avoid being bitten.

• Beavers are loaded into the car, but shaky cages and the animals’ powerful teeth add tension. They discover that darkness soothes the beavers, allowing a relaxed drive.

Bureaucratic Interception & Quick Pivot (18:27–20:20)

• On their way to the official French drop point (to sidestep Belgian law), they learn via a call from Achille's farm secretary that authorities and journalists are lying in wait.

• Quick improvisation: They drive to a remote forest in eastern Belgium instead, releasing the beavers discreetly ("First the cubs, then the parents... just kicked them out into the river.” — 19:32, 20:00).

• Mission “sorta” accomplished, but the ecological impact needs more beavers to be effective.

Growing the Operation (20:54–22:03)

• Emboldened, Olivier and Achille scale up:

  • More trips to Bavaria.
  • Smuggling dozens of beavers in successive operations, using makeshift cages and secrecy.

• “Beaver-smuggling” becomes an all-consuming side project, with Olivier managing media and public opinion campaigns (though never admitting to illegality on record).

The Consequences and The Chase

The Law Closes In (22:20–28:35)

• Belgian Ministry starts following him. Friends implore him to stop; Achille cheers him on.

• Police raids Achille’s farm and Olivier’s mother’s home, searching for proof. Achille distracts the rangers, keeping damning documents hidden (26:14).

  • Memorable moment:

    “Achilles helped me out. Indeed, yes, yes.”
    — Olivier (26:59)

• Police later confront Olivier with a photo of him releasing a beaver. He outsmarts them, saying the release was in France (and French authorities “didn’t give a [damn]”).

• Quote:

  “If you’re not a French officer, I’ll tell it to a French officer, not to you.”
  — Olivier (27:53)

• French authorities are unconcerned, so Belgian authorities can’t prosecute.

The Fallout: Legal Battles and Legacy

• As beavers proliferate, some locals blame Olivier for damages (a handful of felled trees among hundreds). Eventually, lawsuits and government claims amount to €300,000 in “beaver damages” (30:57).

• After 10 years, Olivier has to pay a minuscule fine (€500, about €5 per beaver)—which is never enforced.

  • “At the end of the day, I didn’t pay a single penny.” (31:30)

• By his reckoning, he managed to reintroduce “exactly 101” beavers—“like the Dalmatians.”
  — (29:14)

• Eventually, both German (Bavarian) and Belgian authorities close the beaver supply loophole, and the reintroduction project (at least in its rogue form) ends.

Mixed Reception and Continued Passion

• Some scientists criticize the lack of formal study and follow-up; some landowners decry the beavers’ perceived damage. The ultimate environmental impact is still being studied.
• Olivier, now with a family, is still involved in rewilding efforts—and can’t resist the thrill:
  • “If I can contribute to the comeback of the beaver in a big watershed, the risk is worth it, you know.”
    — Olivier (33:09)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ignoring bureaucracy:

  “Sometimes the authority, the government is right… but we don’t have to follow rules like German Nazis, you know.”
  — Olivier (13:57)

• On seeing a beaver for the first time:

  “I had never seen a beaver before. Never. Wow, it’s huge.”
  — Olivier (16:00)

• On the police raid:

  “They didn’t search the room where I had all the documents. Achilles helped me out. Indeed, yes, yes.”
  — Olivier (26:59)

• On legal loopholes:

  “If you’re not a French officer, I mean, you’re not. So I will tell it to a French officer, not to you.”
  — Olivier (27:53)

• On beaver damage claims:

  “You have 100 poplar trees and now you are crying like a baby because you’ve got three that the beaver have cut.”
  — Olivier (30:49)

• On his legacy:

  “All beavers in Belgium, they come from my reintroductions.”
  — Olivier (32:11)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:11] – Olivier's initial inspiration and childhood love of nature.
• [04:44] – Feelings of dissatisfaction with an office job; desire for legacy.
• [06:51] – Bureaucratic rejection and legal loophole discovery.
• [12:33] – Recruiting Achille, getting support from family.
• [14:41] – Road trip to Bavaria; meeting the “German Indiana Jones.”
• [16:00] – First sight of a beaver.
• [18:27] – On the run from authorities; changing drop-off location last minute.
• [21:24] – Scaling up smuggling operations.
• [22:20] – Authorities start closing in; warnings from friends and family.
• [24:18] – Achille misdirects police during the office search.
• [27:11] – Police try to pin him with a photo; Olivier's legal quick-thinking.
• [29:14] – 101 beavers reintroduced.
• [30:57] – Beavers perceived as liability; lawsuits and the tiny fine.
• [32:11] – Reflecting on legacy; all Belgian beavers trace back to this effort.
• [33:09] – Continuing low-key reintroduction efforts and feelings about risk.

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Tone and Style

The episode’s narrative pulses with Snap Judgment’s signature rhythm—cinematic, suspenseful, and laced with humor. Olivier (“the Belgian Beaver Bandit”) is equal parts environmentalist, anti-hero, and comic figure. The storytelling is immersive, honest about the risks, and self-deprecating, never shying away from the absurdity of two grown men chasing giant rodents with butterfly nets.

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Final Reflections

Olivier’s story raises important questions about citizen action versus institutional inertia, the limits of bureaucracy, and the cost of breaking the rules “for the greater good.” Thirty years later, Belgium’s beaver population owes its existence to one audacious office worker—proving sometimes natural heroes come in unlikely forms.

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Note: Advertisements, show intro/outro, and unrelated comedic segments (such as the Larry Hankin “Home Alone” story) were excluded from this summary.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

The year was 1998. Olivier Rubbers was 29 years old, living in Belgium. And one day he visited a friend.

[C]

This friend of mine, Achille, he has a farm. Not a farm to breed animals, but he has a farm for educational activities for the children of the city nearby. And the name of his farm is Ferme de Castor, the farmer of the beavers. I said, why do you call your farm Farm of the Beavers? Why don't you choose the name of an indigenous animal? You know, Farm of the Beavers sounded to me like Farm of the kangaroos. I mean, we don't have kangaroos. They have kangaroos in Australia, but not in Belgium. And he said, what? No, I mean the beaver is indigenous and the river which is flowing along the farm is called the Biemel, which etymologically refers to the beaver.

[B]

And Olivier wondered, where did the beavers go? Then after work one day, he was reading one of the many nature magazines he was subscribing to. And his eyes landed on something that reminded him of what his friend Achille had said.

[C]

The title of the article was Notre B or beaver. And then the article described that the beaver is an indigenous animal and has lived in Belgium. The beaver was everywhere in Europe, everywhere. And had disappeared because the beaver fur in the 18th century was of very high value and. And that's why the beaver almost disappeared on the Eurasian continent.

[B]

Olivier was fixated on what this article was telling him the beaver could do.

[C]

So the beaver build dams, so it creates wetlands and create nice habitats for all kinds of fish, frogs. Almost all animals take advantage of the beaver activity here.

[B]

Most people would just say that's interesting, and. And put down the article, not Olivier. Olivier saw an opportunity.

[C]

So I thought if we would bring beavers back, we would reintroduce a kind of an engine that would produce nature.

[B]

And Olivier had loved nature his whole life. Every chance he got, he escaped to the Alps, climbing peaks, camping, kayaking. He even built an igloo at the top of Mont Blanc one time. But he didn't have a degree in biology or environmental science. He worked in a cubicle.

[C]

Very interesting job. I was a so called product manager, a quite nice job actually. But I was not happy with my job. I had a feeling that my life was nothing great really. And I had not a family, I had not a wife or child or something. I wanted to achieve something.

[B]

So how would Olivier bring the beaver back to Belgium? Well, he started by doing as much research as he could, but now I

[C]

have to check a few points. What are the needs of the beaver? What does he need? Is it a very picky animal that can eat only very special plants or something?

[B]

Turns out Belgium's abundance of deciduous plants would be a great fit for the beaver's palette.

[C]

Imagine a beaver is just living in the vegetation a little bit, as if you were living surrounded by pizzas, by french fries.

[B]

And where would he get the beavers? Well, he looked into regions that did have them, like Bavaria, a state in Southeast Germany. He called around and actually got in touch with a Bavarian beaver supplier who said he was happy to help him out as long as he got the necessary paperwork.

[C]

I've spent many days to build up an official project. And so I wrote to the Minister at the time of nature conservation and I said, okay, look, the beaver, according to the Belgian law, is indigenous, is protected. Let's bring this animal back. And my idea, in my dreams, I was reintroducing beavers with the Minister. We were shaking hands. I would Say, oh, great, beaver is back in Belgium. And I was shaking his hand. In my dreams, that is what would have happened. But actually the administration said, no, I don't give you the authorization to bring beavers back. We agree with the comeback of the beaver. It's a good idea, we will study that. But you're not a biologist, you're just a commercial engineer. You don't have the profile to do that.

[B]

Olivier was disappointed. Not only did the Ministry say he didn't have the right qualities, qualifications for this job, but he was so sure that this project, if left up to them, would never get done.

[C]

Well, I was afraid to be trapped in a process of. In French we say commission main. So it's a kind of a process where you are involved in scientific studies and there are many steps, and then at the end of the day, it leads to nothing. Why should we wait? Why?

[B]

Olivier was still feeling the bitter sting of rejection when the Bavarian beaver supplier called him up and said, Mr. Rubers,

[C]

did you receive finally the authorization for the transport because we have beavers for you. And then I had to give an answer. And I said, well, we have all the authorizations we need, which means none.

[B]

During his research, Olivier found a little bit of a loophole. See, the Belgian Ministry of Conservation pointed to a European directive saying that he needed authorization. But this ministry only has jurisdiction in Belgium, and Belgium had no official rules about this specific kind of work.

[C]

They wanted to fool me. You know, in my studies as commercial engineers, I had a good formation about law. And I learned that Europe and Darren, as long as it is not enforced in the national country, has no value.

[B]

And between that and what the Belgian Ministry themselves had said, surely there was enough wiggle room to make this work, right?

[C]

They even said, voila, we agree that it would be good that the beaver would come back.

[B]

So if he just decided to reintroduce beavers on his own, wouldn't everybody really get what they want?

[C]

And the idea came together. As we say in French, the frank fell. I have to bring the beaver back.

[A]

Now. When Snap returns, it looks like Olivier is about to take matters into his own hands. Stay tuned. I remember walking up to the atm, fingers crossed, brows sweating, hoping that the fees on the fees with the fees, hadn't already canceled out my paycheck. I wish I could have used chime fee free banking. Rated five stars by USA Today for customer service. Real Humans 24. 7. They even have SpotMe, which lets you overdraft up to $200 fee free. What I really, really could have used that. And when you switch to Chime, you're upgrading to America's number one choice for banking with a Chime credit account. Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Head to chime.com snap that's chime.com snap it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and Chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated annual, percentage yield and cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on a J.D. power survey published October 20, 2025. For more information on APY rates, MyPay, SpotMe and travel perks, go to Chime.com disclosures.

[D]

You're more than just one thing. You're the boss. Hey Google, what time is my meeting with Tim today? The athlete that class wrecks me. The ringleader. And we're good. And always their mom. Everyone in the all new Mazda CX5 more to move every side of you. Learn [e-mail] Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequences shortened and simulated.

[A]

Welcome back to Snap Judgment. You're listening to the Belgian Beaver bandit episode. So the Belgian government said no, but Olivier's got other plans. Snap Judgment.

[C]

Most of animals, they don't have to be smuggled because they can just come back by themselves. Beavers have legs, but they have flippers and they don't like to walk. They want to follow the rivers.

[B]

And the river Olivier set his sights on was the viroin.

[C]

If we introduce it in the viroin, it was good, okay? Because all these rivers are connected anyway. So when you put beavers in river A or river B or river C, on the long term they'll be everywhere. The virroy is flowing through belgium, but for 2km is flowing through France.

[B]

Those 2km of French country meant he would be free from Belgian authorities. So Olivier's plan was to do the beaver drop in France, knowing full well the beavers would flow down the river into Belgium. So we called the mayor of Vieira Morlan, a village on the French side, to get the. Okay.

[C]

It was organized officially with this mayor and it was even planned to have the local press to film the release of the beavers.

[B]

Olivier had the drop off spot secured. Now he needed to go to Bavaria to get the beavers. He had the road trip all planned out, but he decided he couldn't do this alone. So he called the one guy who started his beaver fascination in the first place.

[C]

I contacted Achille and I said, achille, we can get beavers. We can get four beavers. Okay, can we go and pick them together? And he said, okay, yes, go, go, go. He was never afraid of anything.

[B]

Olivier and Achille were now skirting Belgian law, which meant the two men had to be careful. If caught, they could be fined, denied access to beaver suppliers, or worse.

[C]

Even worse than getting no beavers from beaver suppliers would be that the police or the forest rangers would catch us and take the beavers and possibly kill them. That would be the worst case.

[B]

The only other thing Olivier needed was a car big enough to transport the beavers. So he asked his dad if he could borrow his car.

[C]

And I said, daddy, may I borrow your car? Because my car was not big enough to transport so many beavers.

[B]

He told his dad about the project and it turns out, following your heart, not the law, it runs in the rubber's family.

[C]

So he said, well, just do for it. And if some people of the administration don't agree, well, that's absolute proof it's a good project, so just do it. Did I agree with my dad? No. Sometimes the authority, the government is right, makes some nice decisions, but I mean, we don't have to follow rules like German Nazis, you know. And so we went to pick up the beavers and we drove during the whole night we drove through eastern Germany and then we arrived at the address and we slept in the car. And then the following day, the guy opened his door, he saw us in the car sleeping, and they invited us for breakfast.

[B]

The man they were meeting was a conservationist named Gerhard Schwab. He was raising beavers on his property and giving them to clients like the Bavarian government. So he was the real deal.

[C]

It was a kind of a German Indiana Jones, you know, like somebody always in the forest, always in the nature, really. A wildlife man, like an Indiana Jones, but without the violence, you know.

[B]

The three men had a hearty Bavarian breakfast and then started talking beavers.

[C]

And then he asked for the paper.

[B]

Olivier knew he had to show Schwab something, so he came prepared with some official looking papers.

[C]

And then I gave him just a full cardboard of paper. Here are all the documents

[B]

stamped and in French. That in no way said he had the approval, but Schwab couldn't tell. French was not his first language and it was enough. Schwab took Olivier and Achille behind his house to an enclosure With a garden. And in the garden there were four

[C]

beavers, two parents and two cubs milling

[B]

about rolling mud with their feet swimming, patting down dams.

[C]

I had never seen a beaver before. Never. Yep.

[B]

The man who had tasked himself with bringing the beaver back to Belgium had never seen one.

[C]

Wow, it's huge. It's big. A beaver has about the volume of an 11 year old child, has a weight of about 26 kilos. The body itself is 1 meter long and with the tail 1 meter 30.

[B]

One beaver alone could stand up to about Olivier's shoulders and he was close enough to them to see their webbed paws, their long fingers and their sharp teeth.

[C]

And then the German Indiana Jones told us that we had to catch them.

[B]

Actually, Schwab gave Olivier and Achille two large butterfly nets and said, go get em.

[C]

Catch first the parents, because if we would catch the cubs, the parents would attack us.

[B]

The two men scrambled around Schwab's muddy garden, butterfly nets in hand, trying to catch four critters that are basically human sized.

[C]

I feel sorry that he's stressed, it's ridiculous. But I tried to talk to him and I said, come on, beaver, we are going to bring you to a nice place.

[B]

Eventually, Olivier got it down to a science.

[C]

The beaver goes in the corner of the enclosure. You get him in the corner and then hop and you get him in the net. And then he's in the net and he's very heavy because he's about 26 or 30 kilos or something and he has his nose against the net.

[B]

The four beavers each got their own cage and were put in the back of his dad's car.

[C]

We were kind of afraid because Achilles didn't build so good cages. And the animals with their hands, they have, you know, hands like human hands, and they were shaking the top of the cage like this. You know, we were really afraid they would escape and bite us. And you know, when beavers bite, they have such powerful and long teeth. It's like you get stabbed by a knife. But actually we solved this problem through covering the cage with a blanket. And then when it's dark, they immediately relaxed and then we could drive. Relaxed ourselves.

[B]

Olivier and Achille were on their way to the French village of Vera Molin to drop off the beavers and talk to the press. And then they got a phone call. It was from the secretary of Achilles Farm.

[C]

She said, well, we've been called by journalists, we've been called by the administration. They know you're on your way, you've gone to Germany to pick up some beavers. They will be driving around the river and they will catch you if they see you there and they will seize the beavers.

[B]

It turns out the Belgian authorities got wind that Olivier was going to drop off beavers just across the border and they were going to intercept him.

[C]

And so we decided to take a totally different direction and to bring the beavers in a totally different place, actually.

[B]

Thinking quick, Olivier remembered a secluded part of eastern Belgium that he had previously hiked. The two men pulled a 180 and drove over 100 miles in the opposite direction to eastern Belgium.

[C]

We arrived in a region which is mostly covered by forests. No house, no village, nothing. Just forest and a river. And then we took the cages out of my dad's car and we brought the cages close to the river and then we released the beaver. First the cubs, then the parents to kick them out in the river. Just I kicked in the ass of beavers and that's all I did, so nothing great. And then we stayed until the beavers swam away. And I just love this moment to watch the beaver swim. And Sunday morning at 9 o' clock, I had to be in the office.

[B]

Olivier and Achille had tried to do the kind of right thing by dropping the beavers in France, but they kind of ended up doing the not so right thing. And there were now, unofficially beavers in Belgium, four of them. And Olivier and Achille didn't even get caught. So mission accomplished, right?

[C]

I felt the project was not achieved at all, but because we had released four beavers and four beavers is a little bit little for a successful reintroduction.

[B]

Because again, the goal here is to have enough beavers in Belgium to propagate form a population. So Olivier and Achille decided to step up their game and head back to Bavaria.

[C]

We hide Van and then Achille in his farm, asked one of the person working there to build 15 cages. A few months later we introduced again 15 beavers in other rivers.

[B]

But why stop there?

[C]

Sometimes I went pick up 19 beavers. Another time, 11. Another time, four. One time in Bavaria, they called me. We have one beaver. Do you want to have him? Yes, of course. I didn't want to miss just one beaver.

[B]

When Olivier wasn't at his day job, beaver smuggling became all he did.

[C]

Then the beavers were popping up everywhere in the country. Every time that beaver popped up, we went with the press to make a promotion of the beaver, saying, the beaver is back. But it's great because it's doing this. It's doing that.

[B]

Olivier made sure to never admit to his beaver smuggling activities while on camera. But he was putting a spotlight on himself. And Belgium's Ministry of Nature Conservation was starting to put two and two together.

[C]

It's not in my temper to be discreet. Unfortunately, my natural temper is to communicate. And unfortunately, that has played against me. Between 1998 and 2000, the authorities were indeed kind of following me.

[B]

If Olivier got caught smuggling beavers, the consequences could be pretty serious for him and the people around him.

[C]

And I had some people even from the family, from close friends, that told me, oliver, stop it, stop it. We have enough beavers now.

[B]

But against all the naysayers was Olivier's day one partner in crime, a shield.

[C]

The only one that said, no, let's go further. He said in French, I don't know how you could translate that. All these people from the administration, royally. That's what I wanted to hear, really. And you have a feeling like an athlete that would achieve something great in sport. You have a feeling that you have to go further. If I have beavers from Bavaria, I mean, who could resist?

[B]

For two years now, Olivier's been driving to Bavaria, picking up beavers and releasing them in Belgium.

[C]

Myself, I was living in Brussels at that time with my girlfriend.

[B]

And one day, when Olivier was driving to Achilles farm to initiate another beaver

[C]

pickup, I arrived with my car at Achilles farm and directly I saw there was a lot of police cars. I thought there was something wrong going on there, and so I wanted to drive further. But then car of the driver, rangers blocked me with this car.

[B]

Both of the cars stopped. The ranger got out, walked over to Olivier's car and said, you have to

[C]

follow me and to go to the farm. Yeah, we are here to search your house and to search your car, because we have a mandate of the judge.

[B]

The Ministry of Nature Conservation was closing in on him. They were looking for any evidence proving that he was the one bringing these beavers back to Belgium.

[C]

Let us look for these documents and then everything will be fine.

[B]

The ranger ushered Olivier back onto the farm. There was a swarm of rangers all over the yard. Some were talking to Achille and others were searching the front offices of the farm.

[C]

From the time the building search begins, you have to stay there. You cannot move. And as I was in Achille's farm, my mother called me. She said, oliver, Oliver, they are searching a house here about the beaver. I wanted to warn you. I said, yes, mother, I know. They search us as well here.

[B]

Olivier calmed his mom down, told her There was nothing at her house that could get her incriminated.

[C]

However, the only documents that could have incriminated me were at Ash's farm,

[B]

standing still, watching park rangers yank out and upturned drawers, spilling papers on the floor. Olivier was nervous.

[C]

Actually. There was a room which I used as an office where we had a file with letters and mails with beaver suppliers.

[B]

The rangers weren't satisfied yet. They wanted to go deeper into the house and they told Achille to guide them.

[C]

And then Achilles told to the officer, yes, follow me, I will show you all the rooms. And then Achilles went in front of the office quite quick, said, look there, look there, there. And he drew their attention to other rooms and other offices. They were searching in all documents. They were searching everywhere.

[B]

Then they got to the office.

[C]

They asked to Achille, what's this door?

[B]

And Achille did some quick thinking.

[C]

That's the cellar, you want to search it? No, no, no, no, no. All right, follow me. And then Achille brought them somewhere else. And they didn't search the room where I had all the documents. Achilles helped me out. Indeed, yes, yes.

[B]

The police left empty handed. At least that's what Olivier thought.

[C]

A few weeks later, maybe two, three weeks later, they called me at the police building.

[B]

The police sat Olivier down and then one of the officers pulled out a photo which he slid across the table.

[C]

There was one picture, one picture of me releasing a beaver. You see me kind of wet because it was raining and I was with the cage and you could see the beaver in the cage and I was with my hands around the cage. They say, you say you didn't introduce beavers in Belgium. Look at this picture. What do you think of it?

[B]

Olivier looked at the officers and immediately

[C]

said, that doesn't prove anything. He said, yeah, released beaver. Yes, but what's the problem? Ah, you admit you released beavers. It was not in Belgium, it was in France. And they said, okay, where in France are you a French officer? I mean, you're not. So I will tell it to a French officer, not to you. They were kind of angry because they thought, well, he's making fun of us or he's playing with us. I mean, if the French authorities are not happy with it, they can contact me. And he knew, of course, no French officer would ever ask me.

[B]

And the Belgian officers did contact the French authorities.

[C]

The French authorities didn't give a. Despite the fact we did introduce quite a few beavers on the French side. They have many beavers in France, in other regions of France, I mean, beaver is no big deal. They didn't care in France, so they couldn't really jail me or they couldn't really ask a big financial penalty.

[B]

Olivier bid them adieu and walked out a free man, which was impressive considering how many beavers he'd actually gotten away with reintroducing.

[C]

Exactly 101, like the Dalmatians, you know, 101.

[B]

If he could reintroduce that many beavers and still walk free, of course he wouldn't be done yet. But when he went to contact his buddy, the German Indiana Jones, to set up his next beaver pickup, he got some unexpected news.

[C]

Gerhard Schwab told me the Belgian administration got in contact with the Bavarian administration and they said, stop delivering beavers to

[B]

these Oliver Rubers, Olivier's number one beaver supplier, was compromised.

[C]

We stopped because Bavaria didn't want to, was a lot more cautious. I wish I could have gone further with the beavers and I could have reintroduced in other European countries. Then I would have been finished.

[B]

And the hits just kept coming. See, Olivier thought that with beavers back in Belgium, everybody would be as happy as he was. But that wasn't exactly how it played out.

[C]

So some people are crying, are shouting, the beavers are destroying my land, are destroying my home, and so on. I had a guy, all my poplar trees are cut by the beaver, okay? Came to visit this poplar tree. I saw about a hundred poplar trees standing. And then the guy said, look, three poplar trees. The beaver had cut them, okay, so you have a hundred poplar trees and now you are crying like a baby because you've got three that the beaver have cut.

[B]

And because Olivier had made himself the face of Belgian beavers, by 2003, civilians had started suing him.

[C]

There were civil parties and they demanded a huge amount of money, €300,000 or something, of so called beaver damages.

[B]

Olivier was stuck in a legal limbo of appeals and counter appeals for 10 years. He didn't end up paying all €300,000, but he did end up owing the government a small fine.

[C]

I had to pay a fine of €500, which is about €5 per beaver. And they forgot to claim this money. So at the end of the day, I didn't pay a single penny.

[B]

To this day, Olivier is a controversial figure in the field of nature. Rewilding.

[C]

There was a scientist and he got mad that we, according to him, we introduced the beaver without scientific study.

[B]

The long term environmental impact of these 101 beavers is still being explored. But one thing Is clear Olivier brought the beaver back.

[C]

All beavers in Belgium, they come from my reintroductions.

[B]

For sure, Olivier isn't as much of a beaver spokesperson these days. He's married with kids. But it doesn't seem like he's learned his lesson. He still can't resist the call of the beaver.

[C]

Recently, for three years, I get regularly beavers legally that come from wildlife rehabilitation centers and these centers call me. The last month I've been reintroducing a few beavers on the French side. And I was surprised how scared I was. I was alone. It was night. I had the feeling that everybody would look at me. I was almost disappointed. I say, how a coward you are. I mean, I was really scared. But if I can contribute to the comeback of the beaver in a big watershed, the risk is worth it, you know.

[A]

Olivier Rubbers. Thank you for sharing your story. Olivier now lives with his wife and kids out in Belgium and is still engaging and nature advocacy work. Special thanks to Isabel Cockrell. The original score for that piece was by Renzel Goriot, was produced by David Exme. Now then, you think you know the story of Home Alone, the movie. Well, guess what? You don't know nothing yet on Snapchat returns. Stay tuned. Sa. Snapper. Ah, snappers. Tis the season. And in celebration, we're gonna break format a bit. We're gonna travel back to a simpler time. A time before ipods, before cybertrucks, A time when computers didn't talk back. Larry Hankins. Larry remembers these magical days with a story about how he came this close to landing the role of a lifetime, one of the most iconic Christmas movies of all time. Now, spoiler alert. Larry doesn't get the gig. But what happens next? Become Home Alone history. So grab a glass of eggnog. Cause here's Larry live from the Crow Comedy club. Snap Judgment.

[E]

By a show of hands, how many people have seen Home Alone? Anybody? Okay, all right. This is about the curse on Home Alone. So this is about 1990. 1991. I was looking for Rent. That was the whole point. I was looking for rent and trying to learn good guitar. Two things. And in between that, I was trying to audition. So my agent called me and he said, are you available right now? And I go, of course, you know that. You're my agent. So he said, all right, look, Home Alone just called. They started a new production. It's a John Hughes next movie. It's going to be a Christmas thing, is going to be big. It's got Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern and a kid called Macaulay Culkin. And they been filming for three days now. And Daniel Stern has now stopped production because he wants more money. He's going to quit if he doesn't get more money. And the producers say if he keeps on demanding more money, we're going to fire him and we need somebody to replace him. And we're thinking about you. And I'm thinking, whoa, are you kidding? John Hughes movie, Home Alone. I mean, everybody knew then it was going to be a really cool movie. So I go, wow, that's amazing. He says, okay, they're in negotiation right now. They're going to end it in about a half hour. I'll call you back. Pack your bag, put it by the door. You have to leave tonight. You're going to have to start reshooting the new film tomorrow morning. I'm going, wow. She says, okay, I'll call you back in half an hour. Hold tight. Okay. Click. And I'm thinking, wow, I'm going to be co starring with Joe Pesci in 1990, and I need my rent. This is incredible. This is incredible. Okay, So a half hour goes by, I'm sitting by the phone, I'm tensed, I'm jacked up. I'm really cool. And he goes, ok, we just got it in. Daniel Stern caved, It's off. Never mind. There's other jobs. Click. I mean, I was madder than I've ever been, man, because they jerked me around. The producers jerked me around, and I didn't like it. So I dealt with it as best I could. I dealt with it, and then I got on with my life, which was trying to learn the guitar audition. Learn the guitar audition. Okay, cool. Rent. Okay. And about two weeks later, I get a call from my agent again. He said, are you still available? Come on, man. Why? Because Home Alone just called. They want you in the movie. They need you in the movie. You got to be in the movie. And I go, what? What's going on? He said, the movie is cursed. This is a true story. They called me and they said the movie is curious. Cursed. I said, is that your word or their word? No, that's their word, they say. And the reason they say it's cursed is because of the way they jerked you around. And they feel guilty about it, and they feel that that's the reason the movie is cursed, because he's already shot three days and nothing's happened, and it's not going right. So they figured the only way is get Hankin back in get him in the movie, anywhere, just who appease the curse and get it off the movie. And I go, that is the weirdest. Okay. I mean, all right, so will you do it? Well, what do they want me to do? What's the character? I don't get it. You know, just what do they want me to do? And they said, well, that's the. Okay, here's the thing. It's just, it's three lines. Three lines, Are you kidding? It's a cop talking to a mom about getting her son, checking on her son. No, I'm not going to do it. Three lines. Two weeks ago I was co starring with Joe Pesci and now they're offering me three lines. No, I'm not going to do it. No. So he says, no. Listen, Larry, just calm down, man. Now look, they'll fly you there first class, Louisiana to Chicago. They'll pick you up in a limo, get you to the set. They'll have the set all set up for you. This is a half a day's work, Larry. Just go in, it's three lines. Do one take back in a limo. You will sleep in your own bed the same day. No, man. Three lines, Are you kidding? Larry, listen to me. They will pay you $10,000 to do just what I said. Oh, okay, fine, let's do it.

[C]

Yeah,

[E]

okay. Wow. What's the problem? Yeah. So. And sure enough, the next morning, sure enough, I looked down, I'm in a apartment house. I look down, there's a limo, a white stretch limo downstairs waiting for me. I go down, I don't have to pack because I'm going to sleep in my own bed. That's what they said. The same night, half a day's work. That's it. So I go down, I jump in a limo to the airport, first class limos there, Mr. Hankin, chauffeur everything to the set. They pull me up, there's an ad waiting at the curb. I get out, they go, they pull me in. Now right before I left, I got a phone call from one of the producers of Home Alone to verify that I'm going to show up and do it. And so I go, are you kidding? Of course I'm going to do it. Okay. So he says, larry, you just want to verify and everything's going to be okay. We'll see you there tomorrow, right? Yeah. Okay, what do you want? I go, what do you mean, what do I want? I don't deal with that. No, no, no, because we understand. It's just three lines. We Understand? It's very small part. We just want you in the movie because of the curse. So just anything. So if you. No, I said, okay, I can have anything. I go, okay, what if a cop. Right? Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay. I want to be eating a donut while I say your lines. That's it? Yeah, that's it. I want to be eating a donut. A glazed donut. I want a glazed donut. Okay, See you here tomorrow. Right. Okay. They take me to the producers, and there's a set, it's a soundstage. They got the police station, the chair and the phone. Everything's there. They got the camera, the lights, everything. It's all set. And the producers say, okay, just change into your costume. Get in the costume, sit down. One take back in the limo. You sleep in your own bed tonight. Okay? Wait a minute, wait a minute. Where's my glazed donut? Larry, just go change into the cop uniform. We'll have the glazed donut when you get back. Okay? So I go in, I change the cop uniform, I come back and standing waiting for. Right next to the camera, as you know, these baker's rolling trays with the trays, you know, and you can roll it around with the bread on it and everything. Okay? Next to the camera is a baker's rolling tray with 20 trays, 20 shelves, and on each shelf is 30 glazed donuts, 600 glazed donuts. And I just say, I just asked for one glazed donut. And I'm thinking, I'm not paying for these. I just don't understand what's going on or the whole thing with the curse. Okay, give me a donut. Oh, that one. Yeah, give me that. Okay. And. All right, so Chris Columbus is directing, which is another perk. I mean, Chris Columbus is really cool. Larry, get in the chair. All right, you got the phone, you got the donut? I'm going to be eating it. Okay, and take one, Larry. Action. Okay. And. Well, hello, police department, blah, blah, blah. You want me to check on your son in the cut? Is that me? What happened? What was that? No, no, no. Camera went off the dolly. All right, back to one take, Larry. All right, give me another donut. I just ate the whole thing. Just give me a new one. All right. Okay, and take two. And action, Larry. Okay, so, blah, blah, blah, police department, blah, blah, blah. You want me to go to your home and check on your son? Cut. Okay, now what happened? Camera jiggle. Let's go. Go back to. Back to one. All right, take two. Give me another donut. No, I Just ate the whole thing while I was waiting to reset the camera. I just ate it. All right, just give me another one. All right, take three. And action, Larry. And you want me to go to check on your. The light, it's very hot in there. There's a sound stage, it's really hot. And one of the lights are exploded and rained down glass, that shattered glass all over the set on me. So just on me. Okay, so the 20 minute break while they clean up the set. Get the nurse to check. I'm not cut. I'm not going to sue. Don't worry. Okay, all right. All right, Larry, give me another, another, Give me another donut. Okay, and this is, I don't know what. Take four. And take five. Take six. Take seven, take eight, take nine. We haven't gotten through one good take. Something always happens and it's not me. It's not me. It's something technical each time. Nine times. And now I'm starting to think it is Curtis. And you can even see the crew is going, all right, it's the curse. And I look over at the producers and they're white, man, they are depressed. It's really weird. And everybody except Chris Columbus, he's like, cool. He's like, okay, come on, take 10. Let's go, everybody take 10. Larry, get a donut. And I'm saying, wait a minute, the donuts are still starting to disappear from the bottom shelf. The crew is eating the donuts. So, okay, all right, fine. So finally, take 10. All right, give me another donut. And take 10. Action, Larry. Okay, and you want me to go check on your son? Yeah. Okay. Rose Hyperon 2. Cut. And everybody laughs. Now for the nine takes when it was, it didn't go all the way through to the end. Nobody laughed. Because you don't laugh at cruise ups. You don't. But if an actor up laugh, they all laugh. Oh, oh, oh. And they captured it on tape. So Chris Columbus says, print that when Larry, you're released. Okay? Get him in a limo. You can change, get out of your costume. You released Larry. And I go, what just happened? No, if I up, I want to do it again. I don't want that. No, no, Larry, that's good. We're good. You're released. I go, no, I want to do it again. No, Larry, you don't have to do it again. We got it. And he says, come to the TV village and we will play it for you. So I go and I watch it and as far as I can see what I'm doing is exactly the same for all 10 takes. There's nothing different. But then I start to notice something. That there's a crumb from the donut and it's caught on the mouthpiece of the phone. Now all the other crumbs. Because there's crumbs, you know, when you're eating a donut. And all the nine takes, they all fall to the ground or the floor. And even in this take, except for this one big crumb is not only hanging. Not like this, on the top of the mouthpiece, but it's over here, and it's not moving. And then very slowly, it starts to. Very slowly start to. But it doesn't drop. It's just slowly rolling. And then finally. And I. I don't know, I'm just talking and talking, and right near the end of the scene, it drops. And then the scene ends. And they say, we're going to print that. Why? I don't have to use a donut. I don't have to use. No, no, no, that's going in the movie, Larry. That's money shot. And I go, what do you call a money shot? What is that to you? He said, it means it's going in the movie. It's gonna. It's funny, Larry. And I go, okay. He said, get out of here, okay? Get him out of here. Get him in a limo. Get him home. He's got to sleep in his home bed tonight, okay? Get him out of here. So I go in, I change my clothes, I come back, and what I do is I don't go to the limo. I go over to the baker's tray because I want to see what's going on. Why did that stick and no other crumb did? And I go over and it was so hot. I looked at all the donuts that left. The glaze had started to melt, so it was tacky, it was stick. And that crumb obviously came from the top of the donut. So it was the glaze that was holding that thing there. Okay? Because people would come up to me on the street and say, hey, you know, you were at home alone, right? Yeah. How did they do with the donut thing? How did they do that? How did they. Okay, so now I get into the limo and they take me to the airport. And not only do I get to sleep in my own bed the same night, but I get $10,000 for a half a day's work. I can pay my rent. Yeah, okay. And then about a year later, Home Alone comes out and it's a big hit. Now. The reason that it's a big hit and the moral of this story is that because the producers treated me so nice and they paid me so much money for half a day's work that I removed my curse from the movie.

[A]

Thank you, Larry Hankin for sharing your story. From Escape to Alcatraz to Friends, the Seinfeld and Breaking Bad, Larry has left an indelible mark on your TV screens over the last five decades. And yes, Larry has a book entitled that Guy A Cautionary Memoir. Special thanks as well to Sam shaw for sharing Larry's story. Sam is working on a documentary on Larry's improvisational theater company, the committee information about [e-mail] and last but not least, special shout out to the Crow Comedy Club in Santa Monica for hosting Larry during one of their unforgettable storytelling nights. Crowcomedy.com snap nation thank you for listening to the show and thank you to the people who entrust us with their stories. Honestly, it is the best gift of all. Big love from all of us at SNAP on Team snap, the union representative, producers, artists, editors and engineers are members of the national association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications workers of America. AFL CIO Local 51. KQED in San Francisco is SNAP's orbiting hall of Justice. SNAP was brought to you by the team that would never release an animal species into the wild without explicit official authorization. Except, of course, for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Ristich. Now there's Nancy Lopez, Pat Machine Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Gorill, John Facile, Shayna Shealy, Teal Decock, Flo Wylie, Bo Walsh, Marisa Dodge, David Exime and Regina Berriotto. Understand this is not the news. No way is this the news. In of front fact, you could know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who is a Beaver supplier and you would still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is PRX.