Crowds cheered as he collected venom from the snakes in dramatic displays. In 1980 we took my late husband who had ALS (Lou Gerhig's Disease) to the Miama Clinic where. I would see him periodically. At 19, he got a job with a roadside snake attraction. During the 1950s, he was bitten by cobras about twenty times. Miami-Dade police are investigating after a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot late Tuesday night at an apartment complex. Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. Florida snake expert Bill Haast has died. When you left his exhibit, you loved the snakes, and I hasve never been afraid of them for the rest of my life. Bill Haast figured he had handled more than three million poisonous snakes over the years, and he had the hands to prove it. I never forgot Mr. Haast and his snakes, and, to this day, I am not scared of snakes or any other animals. Bill's dedication to helping science, medicine, and snakebite victims was always unwavering. Thinking back, that have been Cookie. At the time I envisioned growing up and working for Bill, learning to snatch & milk snakes. Since the county revived the antivenin bank in 1998, it has saved 1,000 snake-bite victims, Seigert said. 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. A snake trafficker gets a Trump pardon. Here's the only-in-Florida On the way from the Fontainebleau Hotel we heard that President Kennedy had been shot. ''I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom,'' Haast jokes. 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. This time it came out! It was a very low wall. Bill was an outstanding dedicated man. Bill Jr. eventually left, having lost interest in snakes, but not before he had been bitten four times by venomous snakes. More about the Miami Serpentarium , Miami Serpentarium Laboratories is the standardbearer of quality in venom production and service to the scientific community. 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 eventually returned home, married and enrolled in airplane-mechanic school, but Florida called. I think its horrible that he killed that animal. The event left Haast shaken and the next day, he shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times. Jaws dropped. For some in Miami, though, the whole debate has stirred up painful memories of another tragic incident. At the time of the TV airing Mr. Haast was 87 years old and quite handsome he looked no older that early 50s. Very cool regular people with a very irregular life and lifestyle.loved them..they enriched my lifewould love to see how big the oaktree is now that grew up through their pool screen enclosure. My first visit to the Serpentarium was in the summer of '56 when I visited family friends who lived on Key Biscayne. I remember in 3rd grade, back in 1960, one of my classmates dropped her purse into the crocodile pit. I got excited thinking it was a new toy. I believe that it was one of the great thrills of my life. 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!" While the legendary name of W.E. RESEARCH WAS GOAL For Haast, the bites, the snakes and the Serpentarium were only a means to an end. Detectives said when they arrived to the scene, people were attempting to take the teen to the hospital. My parents stayed at the motel pool, while I was the first one thru the door at the Serpentarium that day. Then years later I lived in Punta Gorda on Washington Loop, when Bill Haast moved there. The Official Website of W.E. "Bill" Haast bill was to capture this cobra and milk it for the crowd. ''I knew it was over then.'' He suddenly dropped his hook and reached in with his hand, and grabbed it then swung it over the heads of the audience. He suffered 17 bites that nearly killed him, one put him in an iron lung for three days, his system paralyzed. When he was 19 he joined a man who had a roadside snake exhibit, and went with him to Florida. I visited the Serpentarium in1969 as an 18-year-old on spring break with a buddy. Mr. Haast closed the serpentarium in 1984 after a 6-year-old boy fell into his crocodile pit and was fatally mauled. I, and many other people, really enjoy reading the comments that are left under the photos. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, closed on Mondays. The latest local, regional and national news events of the morning are presented by the Local 10 News Team along with updated sports, weather and traffic. Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. One day, a six-year-old boy fell into the crocodile pit at Miami Serpentarium and was killed by "Cookie", a 12-ft-long crocodile that had been living in the pit for 20 years without incident. There was a croc that had lost its tail because it had bit at it after thinking it was another croc coming to steal its food. the coolest thing i remember is the sighn bill had on the stage while he was milking his terrorfying snakes "there is nothing more exciting then watching danger from a safe distance". 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. boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium During World War II, he was aboard flights that delivered food and medicine to Africa and Asia. Miami Serpentarium Historical Marker This subspecies, restricted to the Florida Keys, obviously was named for Bill Haast. Anyone can read what you share. Haast killed the croc the next day. The bootlegger was arrested, and Mr. Haast found his way to an airline mechanics school. Miami's independent source of These flights took him to South America, Africa and India, where he bought snakes to bring back to America, including his first cobra. Although the boy's father did not blame Haast for his son's death, Haast told reporters he wanted nothing else to do with the Serpentarium and, in any event, would never again house crocodiles there. He was a great neighborhhod Dad, and I will always remember the fun we had with he, his wife and his children. Bill was like a super hero to me as a kid. MIAMI - The name of the 15-year-old who was shot and killed in northwest Miami-Dade on Wednesday has been released. The favor was returned in 1989 when, according to The Associated Press, the White House used secret connections to spirit a rare serum out of Iran to treat Mr. Haast as he fought to recover from a bite by a Pakistani pit viper. Serpentarium's Hasst, 100, Has Died - CryptoZooNews Police in northwest Miami-Dade County investigate after a teenager was shot and killed. I was 16 yrs.old and going outside at night with no shoes on and stepped on the snake in the dark. My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. The boy's family never sued, accepting only the maximum insurance payment, Haast said. Haast's mental trauma over the boy's death eventually led to the closure of the Serpentarium on South Dixie Highway. The giant concrete-and-stucco cobra was donated to South Miami Senior High but fell apart during its move to the school. I've tried to keep up with him from time to time. Bill and Nanvy were the guest attraction and Bill has with them a 12' hamadrayad, (King Cobra) which was un a 4x4x8 gkass fronted cage identical to that in which the sidewinders were displayed. Cox was ultimately arrested and transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Join the New Times community and help support We watched the show (I don't remember if the presenter was Mr. Haast), and afterwards, Scot was encouraged to touch several snakes. Bill Haast and a cobra at the Miami Serpentarium SW 128th Street and South Dixie Highway, Dade County, Florida Thank you to Alvin Lederer for contributing this old image. Updated: May 1, 2023 / 08:00 AM CDT. As a result of the damage, Haast gave up handling venomous snakes, and no longer kept any at his facility. Bill. "We're the only fire-based response team in the world." Everyone sold them to the Serpentarium for $1.25/Ft, good money in those days. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Haast started collecting snakes and, after initial opposition from his mother, was allowed to keep them at home. I am wondering if that was the same pit the young boy had fallen into. I introduced myself and got my wife and kids to meet him too. Once I found an albino snake and she paid me for it, and then took it to Bill Haast. Haast's hands suffered venom-caused tissue damage, culminating in the loss of a finger following a bite from a Malayan pit viper in 2003. He did this 100 or so times a day. But Haast had detractors. In the summer of 1972 I was bitten by a pygmy rattle snake in the middle of a subdivision in south Miami. I saw the "catch and milk" demos and was fascinated. I saw so many people face their phobias of snakes and actually touch one for the first time. 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". As a result of handling these snakes, Haast had been bitten 172 times by mid-2008,[4] all of which but the last few were validated by the Guinness Book of World Records "for surviving the most deadly snake bites", a distinction Haast disliked as he did not think being bitten was a goal to be attained or admired.[5]. We will have to go and visit the place that a man built who was inspired by Mr. Haast. Thanks Bill for the show and GOD bless. She would take some of her snakes to Bill Haast. I am a big guy and I thought we could easily hold him still. Editor's Note: We are saddened to learn of the death last Saturday of Dean Ripa, owner of the Cape Fear Serpentarium in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, and the subject of this beloved 2005 Oxford American feature by our contributing editor Wendy Brenner.Brenner was a finalist for an ASME National Magazine Award in Feature Writing for this story, which was also anthologized in Best . Part scientist, part entertainer, Mr. 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 today is part of Pinecrest. I visited many times in the 60's - 70's. 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. He had so much venom in him that we were told even a bee sting could kill him. He died within 24 hours from respiration paralysis and a brain hemorrhage. After dropping out of school at 16, he joined a roadside snake show that made its way to Florida in the late 1920s. By 1984, interest in such roadside attractions like the Serpentarium had waned. I was inspired by him because as kids we used to go all through the Evergaldes looking for snakes to catch. His powerful blood also rescued 21 snake-bite victims. The attackers included cobras, a krait, green mambas, a pygmy rattlesnake, a European asp and a palm viper. i would love to read a biography on bill haast or should we say DR.HAAST? / CBS Miami. Even though this article is of the Snakeman as we called him I want to comment a special person. 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. 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. Also wonder if that huge Cobra statue is still on the property..and still scary as hell!!!!!!!!! Miami Serpentarium-Founded by Bill Haast - Waymarking That photo is one of my favorite collectables. 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? I still miss the animals. The Reptile Centre in Northampton, England, declared him "an inspirational man within the world of reptiles." But at the Serpentarium, there was a monster 14 foot rattlesnake from upper Florida, probably from around the Gainesville area. A son, William Haast Jr., predeceased him. I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. "He's like an icon to people that know him," Cruz said. And I still do as if it happened yesterday. I'm glad I got to experience that part of S. Florida/s history, visiting The Serpentarium, now part of mine. I notified the person at the gate and soon Mr. Haast himself came out, grabbed the gator, and put him back in the pit. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. - The person who shot and killed a 15-year-old boy is on the run. He introduced himself as Col. Spencer, I introduced myself as "I'm Mark and could my brother Dick come too?" Miami Serpentarium Laboratories 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. Police release name of teen killed in NW Dade shooting - CBS Miami 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. Luckily though, I see from visiting one of the links that there is an attraction to view snake milking in St. I visited the Serpentarium November 22, 1965 while on my Honeymoon with my wife Lynne. "He was into it for the science on how snake venom affected the body," said his grandniece, who worked at The Serpentarium as a teen in the 1980s. Venom would then drain into test tubes fastened to the plastic. Most of the family agreed it was better than any other stops we made, including the newly opened Disney World. I told my mother how I'd really like to get an Indigo and she kind of shrugged it off. Copyright 2023 Local10.com is published by WPLG INC., a Berkshire Hathaway company. And modern medical researchers are proving him right snake venom fractions are becoming recognized as potent medicines. Hanley "Doc" Harding, Aurora Protection Specialists. Mr. Haast himself indisputably saved lives. I wish I could have taken my girls there! I asked him one evening if I could walk with him he said yes in the baritone of gentle command. As a girl in the early 60's, I lived down the block from Dr Haast and his family. Haast eventually returned home, where his mother had leased a concession stand at a lakeside resort. It became bigger than I expected,'' he said. The victims mother identified him as Barry Ellis, an eighth-grade student at Horace Mann Middle School. In 1946 Haast decided he had enough money saved to start his snake farm. boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium She took over, and the show went on without a hitch. "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. He would shove the snake's fangs into the top of a vial and watch the venom trickle down. The Miami Serpentarium, established in1946 as the first-of-it's kind premier and pioneering venom production laboratory in the world, was originated by the Founding Director, W. E. I have such respect for Mr. Haast and for all of his work. 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. 1. canticle of zechariah explained. Nya used to take us after hours to the Serpentariumm to watch her Dad and his workers feed the animals. I was hurt, she said. ``If I live to be 100 I'll really make the point.'' William "Bill" Haast, director of the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories (which he operated from 1947 to 1984) died June 15 at the age of 100. . Of course he would buy the rare Indigo snakes, because they could rear up and spread their neck like a Cobra, but were not poisonous. After closing up shop, Haast spent a few years in Utah before moving back to Punta Gorda and reopening his snake farm sans the showmanship. 555 waverly avenue, brooklyn. He was able to identify the type of snake that bit me by the bite marks. He was a local celebrity known for something really worthwhile (unlike so many celebrities nowadays). I grew up living close to the Haast's in the 60's. After the fight ended, the victim walked away, at which time Cox pulled out a gun and shot at the victim, striking him in the head, authorities said. Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Today, out of print, it's coveted by collectors and sells on eBay for more than $100, a testament to Haast's popularity. 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. I'm sure they still carry around enough guilt, even after all this time, without you adding to it. I hope you live to 100 to prove snake venon is an anti aging wonder. June 18, 2011 Bill Haast, who turned his childhood fascination with snakes into an exceptionally long career as a roadside showman, a supplier of venom and a man seemingly immune to the bites of. His first wife, Ann, divorced him over his snake obsession. 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. Dogs, birds, skunks (if I remember correctly) and of course reptiles. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. I followed his instructions and he was right. Latasha Goldwire, his mother, pleaded for the . Those were great times and i'll never forget them! Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud | VISIT FLORIDA Quite a memory! He made special trips, bringing back such perilous species as cobras and saw-scaled vipers. The original Miami Serpentarium, located south of Miami, was in operation from 1947 to 1984. Cloud. So long Mr. Haast, you were a great man. Teen arrested in connection with fatal shooting in northwest Miami-Dade I took care of Clarita Haast's original Continental Mark. We also used to go to his show at the Serpentarium, and it fascinated my brother. Haast retained custody of their son, Bill Jr. and continued to work as a mechanic for Pan Am while he built the Serpentarium.
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