We had a large clump of banana trees in our back yard, & she had called Mr. Haast to tell him that there was a coral snake down in the undergrowth of it, & could he please come & remove it? The emergency services unit celebrated its 10th year recently at the Metro Zoo in Miami. Miami's independent source of [The search] is still very active and [the] chopper keeps circling, he said. I somehow got to this page from an old email I found and did the Google thing for " Bill "Miami Snakeman" Haast " and here I find myself with those shared memories. He was rushed to see a doctor, but quickly recovered without further treatment. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Palm vipers. He inspired a life long love of reptiles for me and now my two children.. I stood, many times, on the grass in the little circle just feet from the Cobra at milking time. A doctor at the hospital where the boy, was taken said the child was practically dead on arrival from drowning in association with multiple traumatic injuries., See the article in its original context from. Haast saw that a boy had fallen into the crocodile pit. [8], Haast closed the Serpentarium in 1984, and moved to Utah for a few years. My father grew up and was born in Paterson, as well. It was 1929. My granddaddy was Robert Kundtz, horticulurist. We had an iguana that was too large to keep. As he announced at the time, Bill killed the croc because he did not want her to become the inevitable freak show instead of a crocodile.Neither revenge nor stress induced fuzzy thinking was involved. Inside, the snake shows were pure drama with no frills, no fanfare, no drum roll, no silence please, no ladies and gentleman. Haast was also bitten by a green mamba. This time it came out! Airports to Fly Out of, Humane Society of Broward County Kicks Off VCA Walk for the Animals in Fort Lauderdale, She Was Loved': Family Speaks Out After Driver Arrested in Margate Crash That Killed Mother, Hospitalized Child, Miami-Dade Mayor, State Attorney Announce New Measures to Protect HOA Residents, From Haiti Through Liberty City to Top Federal Prosecutor in South Florida: the Unlikely Story of Markenzy Lapointe, Check Your Change! An eight-year-old boy in Costa Rica was brutally dragged underwater and mauled to death by a crocodile in front of his horrified parents. There were two fatal alligator attacks in Florida last year in the first reported deaths since 2007. 2010s. Thank you for reminding me about this incredible man. Thank you Diana, and all the other folks who have posted, for posting your personal memories of Bill Haast and your insights that the general public would never know about if you hadn't written in. Mr. Haast fished it out with a long pole after the big croc took a bite of it. During its heyday, it attracted about 50,000 Florida visitors a year. His powerful blood also rescued 21 snake-bite victims. Bill Haast (December 30, 1910 June 15, 2011[1]) was the owner and operator, from 1947 until 1984, of the Miami Serpentarium, a tourist attraction south of Miami, Florida, where he extracted venom from snakes in front of paying customers. She took over, and the show went on without a hitch. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shoot and kill the 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe, Explosive end to case thats rocked America. I have watched tv programs about him on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. I remeber in 1970 when I went to JFK junior high in miami we went on a field trip to the serpentarium I am now 50 years old and never forgot the place.I did make a serious mistake while there that people I tell find hard to believe.there was this hudge round pit with a wall around it, in it was what looked to me like a large stone grey statue of a crcodile well I went in there touched it and one eye opened and I was out of that pit like a rocket.this crocodile was at least 15 feet long it must have been sleeping lucky for me.Bill left a lifetime of memories for a 13 yearold kid the man truely is a legend that has no equal in the reptile world. Mr. Hasst brought out a huge 16 foot long King Cobra and kept it controlled on the lawn in front of us. MIAMI, Sept. 4 (UPI)A 12foot African crocodile that killed a 6yearold boy was killed today by the owner of the Miami Serpentarium, who pumped nine shots into it with a Luger pistol. One day I noticed his handshis fingersthey were deformend, mangled, sort of like a something from an old horror moviea result--one of many, of having been bitten by so many venomous snakesI think his own blood was an anti-venom, as a result of being bitten so much, I think he used to distribute this "antivenom (his blood)worldwide to snakebite vicims. Haast eventually returned home, where his mother had leased a concession stand at a lakeside resort. Haast maintained a similar bank in Miami when he ran the Serpentarium theme park, which closed in 1984. Haast's second wife, Clarita, simply narrated, setting the mood for the audience. My uncle introduced me to the Florida Eastern Diamondback that grew up to 6 feet in length. I can't imagine more suitable place than South Florida for Bill Haas's Serpentarium. I think its horrible that he killed that animal. I could see their fears fade as they got the nerve to touch a real snake and realize that is wasn't slimy. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Part scientist, part entertainer, Haast spent his early years in Miami as a mechanic for Pan Am, while he built the snake farm he called The Serpentarium along a portion of U.S. 1 that is today called Pinecrest. Several people on social media said the child was on the beach at the time watching a movie. By 1965 the Serpentarium housed more than 500 snakes in 400 cages and three pits in the courtyard. My "fondest" memory: sitting on the side of the crock pit with my butt hanging over the edge, the wall wasn't but a couple feet tall, right? People were lining up for a show. I gathered from what he said that it would not bother him in the least were this variety of snake removed from its separate classification and returned to the larger taxon from which someone had extracted it. I visited many times in the 60's - 70's. She would take some of her snakes to Bill Haast. When I was a little girl, we lived in Kendall. Donated several snakes over the years also, mostly coral snakes from Opa Locka area. That was South Dade, Florida, relatively free of the most venomous snakes because Bill Hass and the Serpentarium. THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has . Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahaler said everyone at the resort was devastated by what happened and Disney was helping the family. Haast routinely injected himself with venom to build up resistance to the ill effects of the inevitable bites. One particular snake that I remember from my childhood visits to the Serpentarium was a big, oversized Florida Eastern Diamond Back rattlesnake. THAT WAS THE MOST MEMORIBLE PART OF THAT VACATION. Born William E. Haast on Dec. 30, 1910 in Paterson, N.J., he was a South Florida celebrity for surviving successive venomous snakebites. My mother took my brother and I to the serpentarium in 1977. Even though the Serpentarium was there, some people still got bitten, and died from the poisonous snakes. Haast extracted venom 70 to 100 times a day from some 60 species of venomous snakes, usually in front of an audience of paying customers. . Like I said, we were always grabbing any snakes we came across, and one day finally got a Moccasin. When I opened the box I saw my new pet, a 6 foot beautiful Indigo Snake. Drivers passing the former site of. We entered the Serpentarium and a fellow (Haas) walked out of the back office to greet the tourists and said" he's dead" referring to John F. Kennedy, President of the USA. "When he closed his doors there was a lapse and there were some fatalities related to exotic snake bites," said Chuck Seigert, of the Miami unit. Eventually Bill charmed that snake and on one of its downstrikes quicker than the snake could react Bill had it behind the head and then as a finale milked a big load of venom. HaastHe paid 0.25 for poisonus and 0.15 for no poisonessHe was a great man and saved thousands of lives with his snake anti-venomBitten numerous time and the only man to sruvive the bite of a Mamba, he insisted on being awake, so he could descirbe the symtoms of the snake bite,He descibed the bite as haluciations and dream world full of vibrant colors. I wish I could have taken my girls there! That applies to the many other wildlife that existed back then. VENOM `POSTER BOY' The medical establishment -- and the Food and Drug Administration -- never bought into Haast's enthusiasm for the lethal snake juice as treatment for multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. Yep, I was a snake kid, read all the books in my library, found "Cobras In His Garden" and was as surprised as my parents when Bill Haast wrote back to me a few times. 1, my mother carrying a large snake onboard an airplane, and no. The crocodile is suspected of eating a farmer who went missing in July in the town of Bunawan, and of killing a 12-year-old girl whose head was bitten off two years before. FOR THE MIAMI HERALD King cobras. A crocodile attacked and killed an 11-year-old boy in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, on Monday. Inside the bag was a cardboard box with holes in it. Is it the venom? To this day it is one of our most treasured possesions. THIS SOFT SPOKEN WOMAN TURNED TO HER FAMILY AND SAID "I'VE COME ALL THE WAY TO MIAMI TO HAVE SOME SNAKE S__T ON ME". I think that this Dr., was loved by thousands of Miamians, because of him lives are save. Small world. He had done research for a polio vaccine, sought a cure for multiple sclerosis. Not sure she had quite the same fascination that I did but it's still very memorable. World Crocodile attack Indonesia Crocodiles Alligator. It had been bit my Cookie while trying to stop Cookie from getting out on US1.Also their pet lion jumped across the roof of the Shelby and the chain scratched the roof. It was 2006 and he was still extolling the virtues of venom, saying he injected himself weekly with a cocktail from five snakes cobras, cottonmouths, kraits, mambas and rattlers homeopathy the Food and Drug Administration would never endorse. We have tried to cover and visualize some, we have implemented a hook with a strip to see if it pulls something, but to no avail. Finding this site reminds me what saints my parents were! The Serpenlarium, widely known as a research fadlity as well as a zoo for snakes and reptiles, remained closed indefinitely while Mr. Haast and his Wife discussed what additional safety precautions to take. His wife Nancy and I had been pleasantly talking an she was so fearful that she held my arm and squeezed hard, all the while telling me that a bite from that king cobra would likely kill Bill , because up to that point he had been bitten some 23 times , but never by a king cobra one drop of which can kill 5 men. They paid my mother something like $10 or more for the snake. But none the less just because Mr. Hass felt bad about what happened he, Haas, shot the alligator for no reason. Jaws dropped. I said yes, I got to feed his snakes white mice, met his daughter (she had a pet lion), used to catch snakes and sell them to Mr. Does anybody on this herpetology board know either the author or title of a novel, published roughly 20 years ago. He said at that time if he lived to be 100 it would possibly prove that snake venom is anti aging. "I am not going to stay here, because just as they protect those animals, they are capable of leaving the river to attack more people and the truth is that it is scary that something like this will happen again. When our son was very small, he was afraid of snakes. "I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom," Haast boasted. He shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times with a Luger pistol, yet it was still an hour before it died. The seller's address: Eureka, Fla. Haast knew he had to head south, to a warmer climate favored by snakes. Eventually, his collection became one of the most diverse venomous snakes on the planet. Good memories of a time long ago. ''I always meant for the attraction to support the venom research, but it just kept growing and growing. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. Res Haast still grows somber when retelling the story: It was a Sunday. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission executive director Nick Wiley said during a press conference that the incident was extremely rare and that officers were doing everything they could to prevent another attack. The hotel is an upscale luxury resort owned by Disney and is one of three hotels on the monorail line. It is one stop from the Magic Kingdom Park and the Seven Seas Lagoon is popular with water lovers and boating enthusiasts. The Reptile Centre in Northampton, England, declared him "an inspirational man within the world of reptiles." I was 16 yrs.old and going outside at night with no shoes on and stepped on the snake in the dark. His wife Ann did not approve, and they eventually divorced. However, we kept them because they made good pets. Rescuers were able to recover his body from the water in December 2020, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. I read here about the boy who was killed after falling into the crocidile pit. other sizes: small original auto previous | next Unless otherwise noted under the right bottom of the photo, all images are copyrighted by Don Boyd comment | share My oldest brother had met a girl who, I believe, had worked at the Miami Serpentarium. PARROT JUNGLE, MONKEY JUNGLE, SEAQUARIUM, ETC. In October, a man fought a crocodile with a knife while it held his friend's head in its jaws. Others joined Haast. As my mother was paying our admission, a worker rushed over to tell us that we were going to miss the King cobra show. bill was to capture this cobra and milk it for the crowd. Anyone can read what you share. While there, he ended up rooming with a moonshiner on the edge of the Everglades, and became proficient at capturing all kinds of snakes. NEW Police have found evidence a 12-year-old was killed in a crocodile attack in northern Australia. Nonetheless, the boy, who was battered and submerged, was killed. He respected him very much. In my Junior high days, I was a snake enthusiast. I'm glad I got to experience that part of S. Florida/s history, visiting The Serpentarium, now part of mine. See, when a poisonous snake bites you, and his fangs (having hypodermic-like hollow holes at their points) inject their venom , they are in fact "digesting" you while you diethe venom is softening up your tissue, destroying it, making you easier to eat, digesthence Mr. Haas' fingers were so deformed? The incident did not end Haast's interest in venom research. killed David Mark Wasson of West Palm Beach, Fla. I witnessed one such snake in 1985 on a dirt road in northeast Florida. These flights took him to South America, Africa and India, where he bought snakes to bring back to America, including his first cobra. A rare survivor, he declared himself doing "very well, anxious to get back to work.". In an enclosure) his parents should have supervised him much better. It's been five years since an alligator snatched 2-year-old Lane Graves who was playing on the beach at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, dragging the boy into the Seven Seas . The boy's body has still not been found, and emergency services have run into difficulty with their search in recent days due to heavy rain. There were eyewitnesses here who certainly saw the child taken under the water, Sheriff Demings said. I was Bill's neighbor on the Serpentariums north side from about 1970 until the Village of Pinecrest purchased my land & building in 2000 ( The Carpet Mart ). I sure do remember Mr. Haast as I bought the 1969 GT500 Shelby that he once owned. The boy's father and uncle jumped into the ?it and tried to pry open the crocodile's mouth. On Thursday, members of the rescue unit came to shake Haast's hand. Once I found an albino snake and she paid me for it, and then took it to Bill Haast. The couple raised the alarm with lifeguards but by that time the alligator had disappeared with the child. Bill was sort of surprised but actually seemed happy to see me. But Haast no longer can handle the forked-tongued killers that made him famous. But there is no reason to visit Miami. My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. I will think of my uncle as I visit. I asked him one evening if I could walk with him he said yes in the baritone of gentle command. Later that day, boy did he get back at the girl that had done this. At first he believed his immunization to cobra venom would protect him from the krait venom, and continued with his regular activities for several hours. We visited the Serp many times as a family visiting from Illinois and I have an autographed copy of Cobras In His Garden along with several movies that I gotta get moved over to DVD's.. Doc always took time to shake hands or pose for a picturetime that in retrospect I know he didn't really have to give, but he always did. Cloud, a venom business where the public can pay to watch workers extract venom from snakes. At the same time his work saved dozens of lives. By 1984, interest in such roadside attractions like the Serpentarium had waned. Well, my mother went on a vacation to the Miami area. In the late 40's and early 50's I lived in Marathon on the Keys. In the past week, The Voice singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead and 49 people were also killed in Orlandos Pulse nightclub by gunman Omar Mateen in a terror attack. Soon, his quest for exotic snakes stretched around the world. I couldn't take the anti-venom so Dr. Haast instructed the hospital on how to treat me. "Any time I saw an unusual snake I brought it back," Haast said, sitting on cushioned patio furniture. Authorities estimate there are between 1.3 million and 2 million alligators across the state. I helped the staff along with about 6-8 other visitors in straightening out the snake (as much as he would let us), to be measured. He soon learned how to handle the snakes and found one timber rattler so easy to handle that he posed for a photograph with the snake lying across his lap. C.C. I feel sorry for the young generations that they will never get to see the true mastery of Bill Haast with his serpents. When we got home, she handed me a small travel bag that she had carried with her on board the airplane. He suddenly dropped his hook and reached in with his hand, and grabbed it then swung it over the heads of the audience. I visited the Serpentarium in the late 70s on a trip down to Key West. For Haast, the weekly shots paid off, helping him to survive 172 venomous snake bites. David Mark Wasson was apparently sitting on top of the wall around the pit, dangling his feet during an inter mission between shows when he lost his balance, the authorities said. Julio. These Valuable Pennies Are Worth Thousands. the shows were fantastic , there was so much to explore everything was clean and the whole haast family were always charming.my family became amateur experts on exotic snakes and have read and watched everything we could over the years.but nothing ever compared to mr. haast. There was a "movie night" outside on the beach tonight Saying the alligator might have attacked the baby on the beach. In the 1970s, along with his friend, respected Miami physician Ben Sheppard, Haast distributed PROven, a venom-based serum. Still remember running a service call on a friday night for a NO COOLto be met by a Llama (male) at the entry gate who put his massive head through my truck window and pinned me against my seat..Nancy told me he liked me but to come back because she was delivering a Llama "cria". I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. See the article in its original context from. An estimated 1,000 people every year are killed in crocodile attacks, many more than by sharks. Great job on the article! He would tell us stories about going to Boy Scout Camp with this extraordinary man, Bill Hasst. Join the New Times community and help support When walking down a hallway, I passed an open door. The 35' cobra ended up on the roof (south side) of South Miami Senior High-my old high school-where it served proudly for many years. May he live far past the hundreds. As a joke on him, a staff member placed a rubber snake into one of the boxes that normally held a venomous snake for the show. Sheriff Demings said the father suffered from minor scratches on his hands and believed the mother also entered the water at one point in a desperate attempt to retrieve their child. Katherine White Popp, whose room is directly outside where the child was taken, said she overheard the mothers screams.
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