76. Then years later I lived in Punta Gorda on Washington Loop, when Bill Haast moved there. He received his first cobra bite less than a year after he started his immunization program. I always had one or more in my bedroom and it drove my mom nuts.. "Any time I saw an unusual snake I brought it back," Haast said, sitting on cushioned patio furniture. That was in 1971 and I kept that car until 3 years ago when I sold it for 35000.00 in pieces. 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. They had the best house! https://t.co/suskABi6UPhttps://t.co/AfEdaZei5G. ''Failing at this is one of my biggest regrets,'' Haast said. 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. But I must say he had a good sense of humor too. Our carpet showroom and warehaouse was open on Monday & Friday nights and some very strange noises were heard at night as you would walk through the warehouse. It stood almost eye level with Bill and lunged repeatedly as it advanced across the floor toward him. 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. Every week, Haast still injects his arm with a cocktail of venom from five snakes -- cobras, mambas, kraits, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes. Thanks for the wonderful memories and great work you have done. In his trademark white lab coat, he would approach a venomous reptile, lure it with one hand and grab its head with the other. By 1984, interest in such roadside attractions like the Serpentarium had waned. 2010s. The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. Miami is a hotbed for venomous snake bites because it is the entry point for almost any exotic snake, whether it is bound for a collector or a zoo in another state. 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. In his case, he claims the venom has helped him live a long and healthy life -- with the exception of his snakebitten hands. I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. By then Cookie, the 12-foot, 2,000-pound crocodile, had the boy in its mouth. The boy's family never sued, accepting only the maximum insurance payment, Haast said. LIVES SAVED
But if a life was lost at the Serpentarium, Haast wants it known that transfusions from his immunized blood to snake victims helped save 21 lives. By the mid-1960s he was putting on five shows a day, dressed in a white lab coat, extracting venom to sell for scientific experimentation. Lee Martines - Growing up in Miami in the 40s and 50s I would visit the Serpentarium every couple of years and always marveled at the variety of snakes and the process of extracting the venom from the poisonous ones. I grew up living close to the Haast's in the 60's. He always survived and promoted his anti-snake venom that saved many other lives. On one trip, Dr. Haast was there, but not in his office or outside on the lawn as usual. I'm glad I got to experience that part of S. Florida/s history, visiting The Serpentarium, now part of mine.
Boy, 8, cut from 26ft crocodile which swallowed him whole while he was Like I said, we were always grabbing any snakes we came across, and one day finally got a Moccasin.
Creator Of Miami Serpentarium Dies At 100 - CBS Miami - CBS News Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The man who mesmerized generations of paying customers from 1947 to 1984 by extracting venom at his Miami Serpentarium as a spine-tingling South Florida attraction is dead. . When asked if Disney was aware of alligators on the property, Wahaler advised there were signs that said no swimming. Name a deadly snake and Bill Haast has either tamed it or been bitten by it. I don't know. Today, Van Horn owns Reptile World Serpentarium near St. Jaws dropped. Julio Otero Fernndez was wading knee-deep in the Matina River in Limn, eastern Costa Rica, when the reptile lunged at him, pulled him under and killed him. I have Ophidiophobia (not herpetophobia the fear of reptiles) a true fear of snakes. But I still think he should not have shot that alligator. There, sitting at a desk was Bill Haast. World Crocodile attack Indonesia Crocodiles Alligator.
boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium Dogs, birds, skunks (if I remember correctly) and of course reptiles. From The Miami Herald, August 3, 2006
FLASHBACK | THE MIAMI SERPENTARIUM
'Miami snakeman' is 95 and still injects himself with venom
BY LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com
IN PUNTA GORDA: Bill Hasst sold his Miami Serpentarium site in Pinecrest in 1984, and settled in southwest Florida. Bill was like a super hero to me as a kid. WHEN WE WENT TO THE SERPENTARIUM, WE WERE IN THE CROWD WITH MOSTLY OUT OF TOWNERS. The incident comes after a four-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo last month. Great job on the article! Glad to see many others share great memories of the Serpentarium. So, on a trip to visit my parents in Miami, when Scot was two (1977), we took him to the Miami Serpentarium. 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.
boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium She would take some of her snakes to Bill Haast. 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. At the time of the TV airing Mr. Haast was 87 years old and quite handsome he looked no older that early 50s. As a young teenager in the mid 1960's I was very interested in all types of reptiles. But I always felt I would live this long. When I was a child in the 1950's, Mama made us stay in the house. I was 16 yrs.old and going outside at night with no shoes on and stepped on the snake in the dark. That might have occurred, since some recent field guides I have examined do not include haasti. I lived just across the road from Bill's place in 1959 thru 1961 and went. I saw the "catch and milk" demos and was fascinated. Haast maintained a similar bank in Miami when he ran the Serpentarium theme park, which closed in 1984. We had an African Ball Python that had stopped eating, and I remember bringing it with my father to have it fed. ''It was the best snake show there ever will be,'' said George Van Horn, a frequent visitor who now runs a similar attraction in Central Florida. ``If I live to be 100 I'll really make the point.'' I saw so many people face their phobias of snakes and actually touch one for the first time. 10 junio, 2022 the contact angle on a thigh and drive tackle is. Five alligators have already been caught in the lagoon and euthanised for analysis. I then got a "thank you". I am so glad to have found this site. I remember him extracting cobra venom too as that was part of a demonstration. But Haast no longer can handle the forked-tongued killers that made him famous. His daughter Nya, my sister and I used to play together. 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. For the first five years Bill, Clarita, and his son were the only staff. Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. They paid my mother something like $10 or more for the snake. I can't imagine more suitable place than South Florida for Bill Haas's Serpentarium. I believe that it was one of the great thrills of my life.
Amid Harambe Debate, Miami Remembers Deadly Case When Boy Fell Into It's been 5 years since Disney World alligator tragedy that killed 2 In the area of the Serpentarium, pigmy rattlesnakes abounded. Among them a zoo director from Des Moines, a local construction worker and a Venezuelan father. 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.
8-Year-Old Boy Mauled to Death by Crocodile in Front of His Dad - Outsider The attackers included cobras, a krait, green mambas, a pygmy rattlesnake, a European asp and a palm viper.
Icon: Bill Haast. Drivers passing the former site of. ''From the first day I walked into the Miami Serpentarium, I knew that was for me,'' he said. Sheriff Demings confirmed there was a sign near the water warning people not to swim. It was in 1960, I was in my junior year at San fernando Valley State college at Northridge ,California. EARLY START
The story of how Haast made his way to Florida has a certain Huck Finn appeal. He was known as the "go-to guy" for snakebites. 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? Legend has it that the Timacuan indians who lived there before the European settlers arrived, revered these snakes as Gods. However, we kept them because they made good pets. We lived in Southern California. Wow the good old days and funny thing is my name is Cookie!!! He bought a plot of land facing U.S. 1, south of Miami, then sold his house and started construction on the Serpentarium. I took care of Clarita Haast's original Continental Mark. There was something unique and special about living old Miami, Its individuals like Bill and The Serpentarium that paved Miami's history in a way like no other place in the world. Im standing outside watching them search for someones baby, she wrote on Twitter. His unique contribution to medicine earned him widespread recognition. It became bigger than I expected,'' he said. I, and many other people, really enjoy reading the comments that are left under the photos. I rememer Bill Jr. when we rode motorcycles in scramble races out in North Dade. Ricky Ganya was last seen collecting snails on a riverbank in Kuching, Malaysia, TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. For inspiration and advice, he leaned on Haast. ''I know a lot of people in Miami still remember the Serpentarium and wonder what became of me, that's why I'm talking to you,'' said Haast, who would only be interviewed by telephone.
12-year-old boy Charlie Buhl describes crocodile attack, rescue at 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. 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. 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!
Crocodile attack earns Florida swimmers dubious distinction Devastated villages shouted the name 'Dimas' in hope of the boy still being alive as the crocodile was hauled ashore. That photo is one of my favorite collectables. If you are the site owner (or you manage this site), please whitelist your IP or if you think this block is an error please open a support ticket and make sure to include the block details (displayed in the box below), so we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue.