When he had enough, he opened the Serpentarium in Miami in 1946. In 1965, Cobras in his Garden, a book about Haast's exploits, was published. Regarding Bill Haast's killing of Cookie the crocodile, bothe Bill Guest and jesse are wrong. Bill's dedication to helping science, medicine, and snakebite victims was always unwavering. I would vacation with my parents in Florida in the summer months. I worked at the Serpentarium for roughly a year, about two years before it closed. Haast eventually returned home, married and enrolled in airplane-mechanic school, but Florida called. Needless to say I was quite nervous also, thinking of what might happen if that snake went through the crowd. The animal was of no harm to anyone other than the fool who would allow his self to fall in. A small alligator, maybe 5 foot with tail had gotten loose and was wandering. It is unknown whether the signs mentioned anything about alligators crawling in the waters. Children shrieked in horrified glee. Parents Don Julio and Margini Fernndez Flores were so traumatized by their son's death, they plan to move to Nicaragua to try and protect their other young children, aged between three and 16. This will be of interest to some out there. They considered him a glorified snake-handler, a showman, a medicine man. On one trip, Dr. Haast was there, but not in his office or outside on the lawn as usual. He placed a live, non-venomous snake into one of the supposedly empty boxes to be cleaned. Sheriff Demings said this type of thing had never happened before in Disneys 45 years of operations. Tonight at Walt Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel crews search Seven Seas Lagoon for possible alligator attack victim pic.twitter.com/lVSOxivh05. But I must say he had a good sense of humor too. ''I know some people have said that about Bill, but he is one of the hardest-working, most diligent, focused individuals you'll ever meet,'' said Van Horn, 62, who worked at the Serpentarium as a young man. The Serpentarium was my childrens favorate place to go on weekends, especially my son who is now grown and still holds a fasination for snakes. Nya used to take us after hours to the Serpentariumm to watch her Dad and his workers feed the animals. And modern medical researchers are proving him right snake venom fractions are becoming recognized as potent medicines. That was in 1971 and I kept that car until 3 years ago when I sold it for 35000.00 in pieces. My oldest brother had met a girl who, I believe, had worked at the Miami Serpentarium. Photo: Orange County Sheriff's Office. I believe he gave them some of his blood with the anti-bodies and that saved their lives. He could not have been nicer to us and spent some time talking to us. My granddaddy was Robert Kundtz, horticulurist. Dr. Ben Sheppard mentioned in the article helped me with my drug addiction in 1974. Turns out that I was talking to Bill Hast. 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. Did you know that Charlie Baxter aka MT GRAVES IS STILL ALIVE & is one hell of a nice guy. The night of the accident, he took his Luger, walked out to the pit and shot Cookie in the head. I grew up in Miami and loved the Serpentarium. Green mambas. In 1978, one of my first acts as a new husband on my honeymoon was to bring my new bride to the Serp (30 years later and she hasn't forgotten that one) so she could witness what I'd described so many times. An eight-year-old boy was dragged underwater and mauled to death by a crocodile in front of his horrified parents while paddling in shallow water in a river near his home in Costa Rica. Haast could not make the ceremony, so part of the ceremony came to him. The boy's father and uncle jumped into the ?it and tried to pry open the crocodile's mouth. Sheriff Demings confirmed there was a sign near the water warning people not to swim. Haast maintained a similar bank in Miami when he ran the Serpentarium theme park, which closed in 1984. These Valuable Pennies Are Worth Thousands. Snake handler, venom researcher. Suddenly, he heard screaming and ran toward the commotion. It was not that far from us and yet we were not fearful. Bill is a true forward thinker and an inspiration to all herpetologists. Luckily though, I see from visiting one of the links that there is an attraction to view snake milking in St. great childhood memories spent there with my family , i remember getting goose bumps when we would see the cobra statue. As I was sitting there I heard a big CHOMP and turned around to see one huge animal falling back into the pitmissed me by about a foothorseshoes and hand-grenadeseh? 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 . I graduated from there in 1979. His cane was an exotic mixture of ebony and ivory. "He'd put on a show just to supplement the research for the while," she said. His grey pleated linen trowsers were pressed and as spotless as his egyptian cotton White shirt, topped with a most stunning Pith Helment. I visited many times in the 60's - 70's. Bill was like a super hero to me as a kid. 2010s. 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. His take on the matter was generally to the effect that the placement of this variant of the common black racer into a separate subspecies status seemed dubious. . It's a shame good things must always come to an end, isn't it? CANCUN -- A 12-year-old boy who was bitten by a crocodile at a Mexican resort spoke to "Good Morning America" on Wednesday in his first television interview. I don't remember how long he was but I DO remember how strong he was. Haast calls it one of the lowest points in his life. THE BAND FROM SOUTH MIAMI HIGH RODE WITH THE COBRA TO THE SCHOOL ON A FLAT BED TRUCK WITH THE BAND HAPPILY PLAYING AND BEATING THEIR DRUMS--SUDDENLY--SEVERAL CARS AHEAD OF ME THE SNAKE --WHICH WAS PLANTED STRAIGHT UP--SUDDENLY FELL APART ON THE TRUCK --JUST SORT OF DISENTAGRATED --AND THE BOTTOM WAS RUINED--BUT A SMALL PART INCLUDING THE HEAD REMAINED-AND APPEARED UNDAMAGED---AND I PRESUME--MADE IT SAFELY TO THE SCHOOL--J. MUDD. I, and many other people, really enjoy reading the comments that are left under the photos. ''Failing at this is one of my biggest regrets,'' Haast said. My parents stayed at the motel pool, while I was the first one thru the door at the Serpentarium that day. He was in a special hospital room on site with feet and hands swollen into black balls and other life threatening injuries incurred from what I recall as being a diamondback rattler bite. And in July, a woman in Florida died after she fell into a pond and was attacked by two alligators. For years, Haast tried to prove that venom could treat multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. I remember a Coral snake bit and killed a man digging in his yard in Whispering Pines in 1965. I witnessed one such snake in 1985 on a dirt road in northeast Florida. In the summer of 1972 I was bitten by a pygmy rattle snake in the middle of a subdivision in south Miami. Knowing me from my letters, he seemed genuinely interested in the details I told him about my own small collection. Another interesting attraction there were the large Galopagas turtles he had. When the show headed to Florida, Haast convinced his parents to let him go. ''I always meant for the attraction to support the venom research, but it just kept growing and growing. I grew up in Hialeah,snake hunting was one of the cool things we did back in the day.We'd ride our stingrays out to milam elementary w 16 ave and catch decays ,ring necks ,yellow rats ,red rats,garter snakes,blue racers.We'd ride are bikes accross the palmetto expressway and go into the woods behind the church caught an indigo there once ,it was laying accross a tree stump that was lucky back 1971.I was 12.It was 6ft long I feed it eggs ,raw chicken breast,a big toad once .It had bright red under the chin.Mr haast told me how to get the lice off it at his snake show.I called the serpentarium every so often to ask various questions on snakes.The guy on the phone was cool and calm he'd answer your questions politely it had to be Bill to us kids he was like superman.Saw his show 5 times.Man !that indigo Mrs haast had was really pretty ,my mom was talking about that snake at big family get together in wis. last new years.We sure are lucky we grew up their! ''At 95, he doesn't like to do anything that takes time away from his lab work,'' added his wife. A Disney spokeswoman did not go into detail about the tragic incident but said the resort was devastated and was helping the family and authorities. He received his first cobra bite less than a year after he started his immunization program. 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. Worst time of my life!!! Senseing this the king made an immediate move toward the door to challenge. He became interested in snakes while at a Boy Scout summer camp when he was 11 years old. ", Twitter accolades came in from across the globe. Mr. Haast fished it out with a long pole after the big croc took a bite of it. Julio. We finally found them on the bottom of my feet. 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. 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. He started extracting venom from his snakes when he was 15 years old, and dropped out of school when he was 16 years old. A second boy, 15, was bitten but escaped. I called Haast to see what he could tell me about it. It was'nt the aninmal's fault that boy fell into the pit (the alligator was where he was suppose to be. I remember him extracting cobra venom too as that was part of a demonstration. But I always felt I would live this long. My first visit to the Serpentarium was in the summer of '56 when I visited family friends who lived on Key Biscayne. Cloud, Florida and it just so happens that my dad lives there now. Haast physically extracted venom from venomous snakes by holding them by the head and forcing them to bite a rubber membrane covering a vial. My brother was always over there buying, trading snakes. He died of natural causes on Wednesday in Punta Gorda, on Florida's west coast, where he had made his home. I will enjoy looking over this site over time. I will forever carry fond memories of "Doc" and how he turned my life around. He was bitten for the first time at summer camp a year later, when he tried to capture a small timber rattlesnake. There was a "movie night" outside on the beach tonight Saying the alligator might have attacked the baby on the beach. RESEARCH WAS GOAL For Haast, the bites, the snakes and the Serpentarium were only a means to an end. They all screamed, then everyone had a good laughed together! He was a great neighborhhod Dad, and I will always remember the fun we had with he, his wife and his children. The Serpentarium was a magical place and Mr. Haast was a very interesting fellow. An eight-year-old boy was mauled to death by a crocodile just metres from his family home in Malaysia. Anyone can read what you share. I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. They had the best house! When our son was very small, he was afraid of snakes. But I remember leaning over the small wall to look closer at that croc when my feet slipped and I pitched forward towards the pit. He was known as the "go-to guy" for snakebites. In 1990 he moved to Punta Gorda, Florida, with his snakes, where he established the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories. In the area of the Serpentarium, pigmy rattlesnakes abounded. She had given me some information on the Serpentarium and I got interested in Indigo Snakes. Great memories. Thanks for the update on Bill Haast! "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. I'm very glad I did. I am a big guy and I thought we could easily hold him still. As a result of the damage, Haast gave up handling venomous snakes, and no longer kept any at his facility. 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. In North Carolina, a chemist offered this salute: "Resssssssst in Peace Bill Haast.". on. 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. As soon as it was handed back to an embarassed little girl, one of the boys said, "Now you have to look and see if it punched your bus ticket!" Except for the grey hair and receding hairline I would have said 'hasn't changed a bit". 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. For almost four decades, Haast charmed curious tourists who flocked to his South Dixie Highway attraction, the Miami Serpentarium, to watch his snake show. 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. I'm sure they still carry around enough guilt, even after all this time, without you adding to it. But Haast had detractors. It took a group of people to get . 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. 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. Now close to 60, a S. Floridian I can still remember driving by that concrete cobra many times. Two-year-old Lane Thomas Graves had been playing in . Katherine White Popp, whose room is directly outside where the child was taken, said she overheard the mothers screams. A crocodile takes rest by the water at the Yala National Park in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on August 21, 2022. My mother took my brother and I to the serpentarium in 1977. "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. Set in the American South in the 20th century. 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 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. Adrian Zorzut; Published: 14:52, 10 Nov 2022; Updated: 16:08, 10 Nov 2022; Ms Popp, who is visiting the resort, said the search party was growing by the minute. When I was a little girl, we lived in Kendall. This subspecies, restricted to the Florida Keys, obviously was named for Bill Haast. Florida is renowned for having more alligators than any other US state. Early in Haast's career, he slogged the wilds of the Everglades collecting cottonmouths and rattlers. Great stories were told on our nightly walks, stories of Africa in the "War" , Safaries, snakes hey we like snakes , Dick gets in troule all the time with his snakes. In the late 1940s, it occurred to Haast that the symptoms of polio mirrored the nerve and muscle disruption caused by a cobra bite. I couldn't take the anti-venom so Dr. Haast instructed the hospital on how to treat me. Then years later I lived in Punta Gorda on Washington Loop, when Bill Haast moved there. He suddenly dropped his hook and reached in with his hand, and grabbed it then swung it over the heads of the audience. People were lining up for a show. 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. When he was 19 he joined a man who had a roadside snake exhibit, and went with him to Florida. Once I found an albino snake and she paid me for it, and then took it to Bill Haast. Now 39, he is a member of the rescue department's anti-venin unit that rushes to inject those bitten by a poisonous snake. Horses had developed resistance to the poisons through the same process, and the blood of those horses was used to create life-saving antivenin. Inside, the snake shows were pure drama with no frills, no fanfare, no drum roll, no silence please, no ladies and gentleman. I recall the incident where the child died -- it was very tragic and Mr. Haast clearly felt terrible about it. Bill Haast, the crocodile's owner, was not talking to reporters. "We know that there are crocodiles and burrows, but we don't have a notion or a pattern to work on.". 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. 'There is no reason to visit Miami. If snake venom holds the secret to a long life, then Bill Haast had the magic. All this may be imaginative conjecture of a teenage boy.. .Once thing sure, though, Him and his wife sure looked scary, to we boys, in those white Drs. She would take some of her snakes to Bill Haast. On September 3, 1977, a 6-year-old boy sitting atop the wall surrounding the Serpentarium's alligator and crocodile pit fell into the pit, and a 12-foot crocodile lunged ten feet and grabbed the boy. It's a shame that everything is gone now. I remember those two huge crocs, one Nile and one American. Walt Disney World has unveiled a lighthouse memorial for a young boy who was killed by an alligator while on holiday at the Florida theme park. ``Funny, the very place I wanted to get away from, I now miss. It stood almost eye level with Bill and lunged repeatedly as it advanced across the floor toward him. He would shove the snake's fangs into the top of a vial and watch the venom trickle down. Alligator seen dragging child into the water. ''I knew it was over then.'' Authorities said the boy, who fell about three metres, was expected to recover after being picked up and dragged by Harambe for about 10 minutes. Haast's passing reminded South Floridians of a certain age of the bygone era when entrepreneurs could set up quirky roadside attractions along Dixie Highway, US 1, to thrill both local school kids and wintering vacationers who fled the cold. 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. 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. I grew up near the Serpentarium , and played baseball @ Suniland Park..Many times during games , an iguana that had escaped from the serpentarium , would run across the field..As kids , we too ,sold snakes to the facility , and we managed to see the show several times a yearwe would ride our bikes to Parrot Jungle and the Serpentarium and see all kinds of rare wild animals and snakes , and birds , then fish salt or fresh water within a few miles of homegreat place to grow up in the 60's. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shoot and kill the 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe, Explosive end to case thats rocked America. The concrete & stucco cobra was the second icon of the Serpentarium. Zoo director Thane Maynard said the zoos dangerous animal response team decided the boy was in a life-threatening situation and they needed to put down the 200kg male gorilla. No matter where we went, Miami was Bill's real home. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. But the reptile managed to crawl away into a moat in the 50foot square pit, dragging the child with him. He applied the standard snake-bite treatment of the time (making crossed cuts over the fang marks and applying potassium permanganate) and then walked four miles to the camp's first aid tent, by which time his arm was swollen. Also wonder if that huge Cobra statue is still on the property..and still scary as hell!!!!!!!!! Haast eventually sold his family home to buy the land on South Dixie Highway where the Serpentarium would rise. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. THE body of a two-year-old boy snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has now been recovered. I also remember hearing a story about him saving the lives of GI`s in Vietnam who had jumped from a helicopter into some poisonous snakes. 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. "He's like an icon to people that know him," Cruz said. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles, a 20-foot-long python. "Well my dear lad, if you should like I will write to my old friend from the war, Bill Hasst. 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. The Serpentarium's landmark 35-foot-high, hooded, concrete-and-stucco cobra stuck out its forked tongue at motorists and arriving patrons on South Dixie Highway and Southwest 126th Street. I remember one time that one got the better of him and bit him in the neck. 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. The honor, bestowed by Miami's mayor, was delivered to Haast at his home east of Punta Gorda by members of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Unit. Police said witnesses described the alligator as being between 1.2 and 2.1 metres long. With his certification, he moved to Miami to work for Pan American World Airways. I sure do remember Mr. Haast as I bought the 1969 GT500 Shelby that he once owned.
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