The attackers included cobras, a krait, green mambas, a pygmy rattlesnake, a European asp and a palm viper. I don't remember how long he was but I DO remember how strong he was. I still have his autograph and some great snapshots of that meet & greet. The family checked into the resort on June 12 and the boy was playing at the waters edge when the alligator stuck, according to eyewitnesses at the scene. . I'd rather go back in the ocean than back to the Serpentarium! "We're the only fire-based response team in the world." During the 1950s, he was bitten by cobras about twenty times. My friend Jim Danaaldson who procured and trained animals for the film industry had set up a Reptile Exposition at Devonshire downs and I was an exhibiter . It was in 1960, I was in my junior year at San fernando Valley State college at Northridge ,California. I will forever carry fond memories of "Doc" and how he turned my life around. 2, my first Indigo. This will be of interest to some out there. Bowker, of New York, pleaded guilty for his role in arranging for 22 snakes to be delivered to the Serpentarium in an apparent swap for the same number of American alligators. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. Since the county revived the antivenin bank in 1998, it has saved 1,000 snake-bite victims, Seigert said. When he had enough, he opened the Serpentarium in Miami in 1946. My Parents said we know Mr. Haast would you like to see his snake farm. As the snakes slithered and slide across the table he was working on the crowd jumped back gasping except me I think I eased even closer. When we got the photos back, the film was sun damaged, so the next year I went back to hold the Indigo again and friend, Dave took the picture. My interest of reptiles was clearly fromed by Dr. Hasst and I have passed on some of it to my kids who now have a Bearded Dragon Dr. Hasst is a true legend.. He died of natural. It was an experiment, but having received his first venomous snake bite as a teenager, Haast was used to risks. He would free the snakes on a table in front of him, then catch the snakes bare-handed, and force them to eject their venom into glass vials with a rubber membrane stretched across the top. I lived across South Dixie Highway from the Miami Serpentarium. Authorities estimate there are between 1.3 million and 2 million alligators across the state. Funny thing is, he had different ideas about that. It was not that far from us and yet we were not fearful. I notified the person at the gate and soon Mr. Haast himself came out, grabbed the gator, and put him back in the pit. I am a big guy and I thought we could easily hold him still. I have watched tv programs about him on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. THAT WAS THE MOST MEMORIBLE PART OF THAT VACATION. We donated it to the serpentarium. REMAINS of a fourteen-year-old boy have been pulled from inside a crocodile's belly after he was eaten alive. 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. 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. Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. For Haast, the weekly shots paid off, helping him to survive 172 venomous snake bites. His cane was an exotic mixture of ebony and ivory. On March 15, 2009, 11-year-old Briony Goodsell was killed by a crocodile when swimming with friends at Lambell's Lagoon near Humpty Doo in Northern Territory. But I must say he had a good sense of humor too. I was a good friend with Bill Haast's grandson Willie, He and I would catch snakes and bring them to the Surpentarium, I also would go camping in the everglades with Willie and his sister pinkie and their mom and dad, we would swim in the water around gaters and catch snakes. RIP kind soul. One of the girls fainted right in my dad's arms! The last snake I had was a 12' burmese python that I owned a few years ago. The 2-year-old boy grabbed by alligator at Disney hotel has been found dead, a source says https://t.co/SyWdOq9L87 https://t.co/xLMVr0orfE. Thanks Bill for the show and GOD bless. He respected him very much. Dr. Ben Sheppard mentioned in the article helped me with my drug addiction in 1974. [8], Haast closed the Serpentarium in 1984, and moved to Utah for a few years. The incident comes after a four-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo last month. I can still recall watching a 12 or 14 ft gator, said to have been the largest but for its missing tail. I worked at the Serpentarium for roughly a year, about two years before it closed. Most of the family agreed it was better than any other stops we made, including the newly opened Disney World. Haast's death-defying act didn't disappoint. We watched the show (I don't remember if the presenter was Mr. Haast), and afterwards, Scot was encouraged to touch several snakes. We watched Mr. Haast with fascination as he milked the snakes. 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. EARLY START The story of how Haast made his way to Florida has a certain Huck Finn appeal. She had given me some information on the Serpentarium and I got interested in Indigo Snakes. Sometimes, you feel useless. I believe that it was one of the great thrills of my life. There were others I recall, Monkey Jungle, Parrot Jungle, but none had the that eye catching element of suspense like The Serpentarium. American Model Killed By Crocodile In Australia - YouTube 0:00 / 1:46 American Model Killed By Crocodile In Australia Strange Deranged Unexplained 1.08K subscribers 743 80K views 11. Alligator seen dragging child into the water. The location of where the 2yr old is missing. It was 1929. Shaman Killed by Crocodile Horror Stories 812K subscribers Subscribe 27K Save 741K views 3 years ago Notice Age-restricted video (based on Community Guidelines) Almost yours: 2 weeks, on us. All times AEDT (GMT +11). It took the 1,800pound reptile an hour to die. i grew -up in south fla. in the sixties through the eighties,reading about bill haast brought back so many great memories.it was a huge treat when my mom and dad would pile all five of us kids in our station wagon a few times a year and spend the day at the miami serpentarium. "And in the end the research could take care of itself.". There he met and eloped with his first wife, Ann. Among them a zoo director from Des Moines, a local construction worker and a Venezuelan father. He inspired a life long love of reptiles for me and now my two children.. My heart is shattered. Ditto for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Jeffrey Fobb, who frequented shows as a boy. Haast's mental trauma over the boy's death eventually led to the closure of the Serpentarium on South Dixie Highway. He would tell us stories about going to Boy Scout Camp with this extraordinary man, Bill Hasst. MIAMI, Sept. 3 (UPI)A 6yearold boy tumbled into a crocodile pit at the Miami Serpentarium today and a 14 foot, 1,800pound African crocodile snapped its jaws around the child's middle and dragged him to his death in a small lagoon. But thanks to Bill, there were not many poisonous snakes left in South Dade in the 60s-70s when I had an youngsters craving for catching reptiles. He placed a live, non-venomous snake into one of the supposedly empty boxes to be cleaned. Mr. Haast fished it out with a long pole after the big croc took a bite of it. Several people on social media said the child was on the beach at the time watching a movie. While there, a gentleman drove in with a huge python he caught on his property and had in a wire basket. Bill Haast's daughter was in my 4th grade class and we went to the Serpentarium for a field trip. Cloud, Florida and it just so happens that my dad lives there now. As my mother was paying our admission, a worker rushed over to tell us that we were going to miss the King cobra show. But the reptile managed to crawl away into a moat in the 50foot square pit, dragging the child with him. What amemorable time, nobody was dissapointed and we all calmed down and talked quietly afterwaeds. I didn't know what to do with it, so I call the Miami Serpentarium. His grey pleated linen trowsers were pressed and as spotless as his egyptian cotton White shirt, topped with a most stunning Pith Helment. Sometime later when I visited again, I bought Cobras In His Garden, and Dr. Haast, recovering from that or another bite on his hand, left a blood smudge on my book while signing it . Every so often the evening news would announce "Bill Haast had been bitten by a poisonous snake AGAIN." All rights reserved, See Where Florida Ranks Among The Cheapest and Most Expensive U.S. When he reached in to get it with his hook, he realized he had been had, then chose to play along and scare the audience who had already watched him take out a few deadly snakes from other boxes. My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. Julio. In 2019 The Sun reported on the tragic death of a boy, ten, who was killed by crocodile after being dragged from a boat in front of his horrified family. In the 1970s, along with his friend, respected Miami physician Ben Sheppard, Haast distributed PROven, a venom-based serum. Art Levy | 8/1/2008. He was born in 1910 in Paterson, N.J., to German-American parents -- his father was a mechanic, his mom a housewife. In his case, he claims the venom has helped him live a long and healthy life -- with the exception of his snakebitten hands. 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. 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. Also wonder if that huge Cobra statue is still on the property..and still scary as hell!!!!!!!!! Worst time of my life!!! As a girl in the early 60's, I lived down the block from Dr Haast and his family. I recall going with my brother to the airport to pick her up upon her arrival. It became bigger than I expected,'' he said. In October, a man fought a crocodile with a knife while it held his friend's head in its jaws. "Bill Haast, a Man Charmed by Snakes, Dies at 100", "Owner destroys crocodile that killed boy, may close serpentarium", "Icon: Bill Haast Snake handler, venom researcher, age 97", "100 years and kicking: Happy Birthday, Bill Haast", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Haast&oldid=1079333500, This page was last edited on 26 March 2022, at 06:33. A second boy, 15, was bitten but escaped. My father used to deliver popcorn to the Miami Serpentarium in the late 60's early 70's and I used to love to watch Mr. Haast handle the King Cobras. When he was 19 he joined a man who had a roadside snake exhibit, and went with him to Florida. In 1965, Cobras in his Garden, a book about Haast's exploits, was published. [The search] is still very active and [the] chopper keeps circling, he said. Mr. Hasst brought out a huge 16 foot long King Cobra and kept it controlled on the lawn in front of us. The snake had disappeared, but I estimate that the snake, which had at least a one foot girth, was 14 feet or more. Later that day, boy did he get back at the girl that had done this. My father grew up and was born in Paterson, as well. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles, a 20-foot-long python. He shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times with a Luger pistol, yet it was still an hour before it died. Well he is alive and well at the age of 97or 98 and still apparently working with snakes; he said he felt there would come a time when he would not be able work with them but I guest he still is. Does anybody on this herpetology board know either the author or title of a novel, published roughly 20 years ago. (and I have literally been attacked by a shark, which resulted in 30 days in the hospital, and losing half a lung) My point? In 1964, a book was written about him. "Not to mention pretty damn smart. Born William E. Haast on Dec. 30, 1910 in Paterson, N.J., he was a South Florida celebrity for surviving successive venomous snakebites. Sheppard gave injections to patients with MS. His clinic became famous and was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. They considered him a glorified snake-handler, a showman, a medicine man. When my family came to Miami in1961, they left me in Lakeland, Florida with my aunt and uncle, who happened to be an avid hunter/fisherman. After the United States entered World War II, Haast served as a flight engineer on Pan Am airliners flying under contract to the United States Army Air Corps. 'There is no reason to visit Miami. I've outlived all my friends down there.' Anyone can read what you share. When I was a small boy of 8-9 years old in the mid sixties, a distinguished gentleman would walk by our house in the early morning like clockwork. At the time I envisioned growing up and working for Bill, learning to snatch & milk snakes. When our son was very small, he was afraid of snakes. She would take some of her snakes to Bill Haast. His contribution to antivenin science is unparalleled and earned him recognition throughout his life. haasti is different from the parent species only by virtue of an unusual configuration of white coloration on the head and chin. ''At 95, he doesn't like to do anything that takes time away from his lab work,'' added his wife. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. 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. The injections are a routine he began in 1948 -- the year he opened the Serpentarium -- and continued after he closed it in 1984. I remember those two huge crocs, one Nile and one American. ", By his 95th birthday, he was a bit of a recluse. 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 said his last snakebite, Number 173 suffered in 2003 -- courtesy of a Malaysian pit viper -- was the final blow to his hands, already mangled from years of enduring the nerve- and tissue-destroying poison that snakes spew when biting. I live in Sarasota now and totally enjoy the water, I think those times are responceable. great childhood memories spent there with my family , i remember getting goose bumps when we would see the cobra statue. It is unclear whether the attack was fatal. Wow the good old days and funny thing is my name is Cookie!!! People were lining up for a show. In the first chapter a bunch of young boys are headed to a swimming hole; one boy races ahead and dives in. So, on a trip to visit my parents in Miami, when Scot was two (1977), we took him to the Miami Serpentarium. He introduced himself as Col. Spencer, I introduced myself as "I'm Mark and could my brother Dick come too?" A 911 call was received at 9.16pm local time. 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. Luckily though, I see from visiting one of the links that there is an attraction to view snake milking in St. He said at that time if he lived to be 100 it would possibly prove that snake venom is anti aging. . The show was great. I grew up living close to the Haast's in the 60's. The concrete & stucco cobra was the second icon of the Serpentarium. He was rushed to see a doctor, but quickly recovered without further treatment. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. In 1946 Haast decided he had enough money saved to start his snake farm. I also remember Mrs. Haast coming to the schools, all the way into my sophomore year at Gables High, to talk about their work - and the high point of her talks was when she would take an indigo snake out of her purse and invite everyone to feel it. An eight-year-old boy was mauled to death by a crocodile just metres from his family home in Malaysia. "He was into it for the science on how snake venom affected the body," said the grand-niece who worked at The Serpentarium as a teen in the 1980s. Miami's independent source of According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, population growth and increasing participation in water-related activities are resulting in more frequent alligator-human interactions. I am transferring my old pictures to new albums and came across our photos at The Serpentarium in 1973 when we were there with our family while on vacatin. The experiments gave encouraging results, but were still in preliminary clinical trials when the Salk polio vaccine was released in 1955. 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. It was intuitive. I sure do remember Mr. Haast as I bought the 1969 GT500 Shelby that he once owned. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Back in the 1980's, I lived in the Pepperwood S/D (about one block south of Kendell Drive, just west of Palmetto Expy). We gave Dr.Haast large Andaconda in 1965". The crocodile is believed to measure 2.5 to three . My oldest brother had met a girl who, I believe, had worked at the Miami Serpentarium. The seller's address: Eureka, Fla. Haast knew he had to head south, to a warmer climate favored by snakes. Im just here to say a prayer, he said. Just heard the mother grieving her baby. I grew up in Miami and loved the Serpentarium. 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 asked him one evening if I could walk with him he said yes in the baritone of gentle command. I was 11 in 1972 when my folks agreed to stop at the Serpentarium when our family of seven drove down from Massachusetts to Key West for February school vacation. 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? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Cloud, a venom business where the public can pay to watch workers extract venom from snakes. However, we kept them because they made good pets. My brother was always over there buying, trading snakes. A small alligator, maybe 5 foot with tail had gotten loose and was wandering. Haast killed the croc the next day. Ricky Ganya was last seen collecting snails on a riverbank in Kuching, Malaysia, Jim F. Thank you for bringing back many many wonderful memories. "He'd put on a show just to supplement the research for the while," she said. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. As a kid, it was a thrill to see the man himself up close. Look at how big the transplanted Pythons get and that they thrive and fight the alligators in the Everglades. His wife Ann did not approve, and they eventually divorced. local news and culture. I am now 42 years with a very youthful appearance and in excellent health! I followed his instructions and he was right. Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. Shame on Hass and the parents this poor animal was slaughtered. I never forgot Mr. Haast and his snakes, and, to this day, I am not scared of snakes or any other animals. We visited the Serpentarium and it was an amazing experience that I remember vividly to this day. Today, out of print, it's coveted by collectors and sells on eBay for more than $100, a testament to Haast's popularity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Snake man is master of poison and cure Bill Haast, 97, is lauded for pioneering work with snake venom By Kate Spinner Sarasota Herald-Tribune Published: Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:30 a.m. CHARLOTTE COUNTY - Bill Haast's 97-year-old fingers, withered by scores of snake bites, are too weak to handle cobras and pit vipers anymore. But I still think he should not have shot that alligator. He was carrying a snake-bite kit, and had a friend inject him with antivenom; the bite hospitalized him for a week. 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. Green mambas. We used to hunt non-poisonous snakes in the Glades, Homestead farmlands: king snakes, red ratsnakes, yellow ratsnakes, indigos, black racers, etc., and take them down to mr Haas and he had a yardstick on the table and would measure them by the foot, pay us maybe .25cents/foot for the ratsnake, .35/foot for the kingsnakes, etc. Originally, the shots immunized Haast against snake bites, an occupational hazard. 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. Snake handler, venom researcher. Luckily I caught myself in time to stop myself from falling in. It was slithering across the road, which was about 11 feet across and the snakes head and tail were not clearly visible. I always had one or more in my bedroom and it drove my mom nuts.. a woman in Florida died after she fell into a pond and was attacked by two alligators, the remains of a 14-year-old boy were cut from a crocodile's stomach, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion.
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