On a September day in 1977, a small boy visiting the Serpentarium fell into one of the reptile pits and was grabbed by a 12-foot African crocodile. Thanks for the wonderful memories and great work you have done. 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. Funny thing is, he had different ideas about that. Sheppard gave injections to patients with MS. His clinic became famous and was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. The gentle smile said yes as I ran in the house saying " He' a Colonel Dick a real live Colonel!!!" The findings were very encouraging, Haast said. He agreed to chat only by telephone with a Miami Herald reporter. Suddenly, he heard screaming and ran toward the commotion. 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. It was all in a days work for probably the best-known snake handler in the country, a scientist-cum-showman who made enough money from milking toxic goo from slithery serpents to buy a cherry-red Rolls-Royce convertible. I don't remember which one was the infamous "Cookie". He respected him very much. I live in Sarasota now and totally enjoy the water, I think those times are responceable. Well I then came to his web site to find out how old Mr. Haast is today or if he is still alive. The Miami Serpentarium, established in1946 as the first-of-its kind premier and pioneering venom production laboratory in the world, was originated by the Founding Director, W. E. Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. 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. We got a motel room across the road from the Serpentarium. I stood, many times, on the grass in the little circle just feet from the Cobra at milking time. The original Miami Serpentarium, located south of Miami, was in operation from 1947 to 1984. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles and a 20-foot python. He became interested in snakes while at a Boy Scout summer camp when he was 11 years old. So, on a trip to visit my parents in Miami, when Scot was two (1977), we took him to the Miami Serpentarium. He was shot in the upper torso, said Miami-Dade police Detective Angel Rodriguez. He shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times with a Luger pistol, yet it was still an hour before it died. Curabitur venenatis, nisl in bib endum commodo, sapien justo cursus urna. Cruz called Haast after a man was bitten by a Black Mamba, one of the most poisonous snakes of Africa. 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 Today, out of print, it's coveted by collectors and sells on eBay for more than $100, a testament to Haast's popularity. Glad to see many others share great memories of the Serpentarium. She took over, and the show went on without a hitch. Linkedin. I think that this Dr., was loved by thousands of Miamians, because of him lives are save. I got my love of snakes (I'm a girl) growing up in Miami going repeatedly to the Serpentarium. Finding a job as a flight engineer with Pan American World Airways, he began traveling around the world. Eventually, his collection became one of the most diverse venomous snakes on the planet. Look at how big the transplanted Pythons get and that they thrive and fight the alligators in the Everglades. The Serpentarium was a magical place and Mr. Haast was a very interesting fellow. Among them a zoo director from Des Moines, a local construction worker and a Venezuelan father. The crime occurred Wednesday afternoon inside a mobile home park in Miami-Dade Countys West Little River area, just north of Miamis Little River neighborhood. There, sitting at a desk was Bill Haast. He received the key to the city.Those same hands that for decades eased venom from the world's most poisonous snakes held the key to the city of Miami on Thursday. Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. In 1964, a book was written about him. Besides his wife, he left two daughters, Naia Hanna and Shantih, living in California. We also used to go to his show at the Serpentarium, and it fascinated my brother. 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. Bill Haast died of natural causes Wednesday in Punta Gorda, on Florida's west coast, where he had made his home. The emergency services unit celebrated its 10th year recently at the Metro Zoo in Miami. 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. He was 100. He was bitten for the first time at summer camp a year later, when he tried to capture a small timber rattlesnake. Bill was like a super hero to me as a kid. 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. I remember a Coral snake bit and killed a man digging in his yard in Whispering Pines in 1965. . The concrete & stucco cobra was the second icon of the Serpentarium. Jaws dropped. A secret of his success was the immunity he had built up by injecting himself every day for more than 60 years with a mix of venoms from 32 snake species. Mr. Haast, who was director of the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a snake-venom producer near Punta Gorda, Fla., died of natural causes on Wednesday at his home in southwest Florida, his wife, Nancy, said. 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. Police in northwest Miami-Dade County investigate after a teenager was shot and killed. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Thanks again Bill.. I remember one time that one got the better of him and bit him in the neck. Nice to see the photos again. Furthermore, you shouldn't speak about how a parent should have kept a better eye on their dead son. Police could be seen going through the neighborhood, talking to witnesses and looking for any helpful surveillance video. I came upon a reference to a varieth of the black racer that bears the name Coluber constrictor haasti. But he still wakes up each morning to turn snake venom from across the globe into freeze-dried powder for medical laboratories. I was a nurse in the ICU at Variety Children's Hospital on at least three of Haast's admissions after snake bites. I visited the Serpentarium two time back in 1958 and 1967, it was a very interesting place to tour. (Different venoms require different antidotes.). I have returned to see his show at thye Serpentarium and have watched him with his wife on the Merv Griffith show & others ( I think also the Jonny Carson Show) many years later. Sometimes, you feel useless. He caught his first garter snake at 7 at a nearby canal. Not to mention, people do not operate properly during tragic events. 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. 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! did matthew boynton shoot his wife . Facebook. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They considered him a glorified snake-handler, a showman, a medicine man. joe pylandgrew up at sunniland park two blocks from the serpentarium.Remember it well..Billy..the grandson ran over my arm in 1962 with his bike..breaking it and I missed the 1st 6 weeks of Khoury League.Remember Haast tamping alsoThis man was incredidle and brave. My Dad would take me there often, we lived in South Miami (as I do againlong story). Living In Ms. we had plenty of cotton mouths copperheads and assorted others. I recall Carlita as being a very exotic woman with her eyes made up just like snake's eyes! I lived just across the road from Bill's place in 1959 thru 1961 and went. I called Haast to see what he could tell me about it. 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. My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. 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. In the summer of 1972 I was bitten by a pygmy rattle snake in the middle of a subdivision in south Miami. But Haast no longer can handle the forked-tongued killers that made him famous. Sincerely, an understanding and appreciative person! However, the venom eventually did affect him, and he was taken to a hospital where it took him several days to recover. In an enclosure) his parents should have supervised him much better. One particular snake that I remember from my childhood visits to the Serpentarium was a big, oversized Florida Eastern Diamond Back rattlesnake. ''I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom,'' Haast jokes. A Venomous Price to Pay In recent years, snakebite victims have been billed hundreds of thousands of dollars for antivenom. Now close to 60, a S. Floridian I can still remember driving by that concrete cobra many times. She had given me some information on the Serpentarium and I got interested in Indigo Snakes. 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. 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. He gathered 400 cobras and took his findings to a University of Miami researcher. We looked out and could see both Bill and Nancy peeking out from their office with a big grin! 76. (and I have literally been attacked by a shark, which resulted in 30 days in the hospital, and losing half a lung) My point? 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. He suffered 17 bites that nearly killed him, one put him in an iron lung for three days, his system paralyzed. it stirred interest faster than the key lime pie and local jelly signs. The mouse would die. Report: 350+ Books Banned in Florida School Districts Since Last July, Uber, Lyft Drivers Strike at Florida Airports to Demand Livable Wages, All 200+ Books Banned in Florida and What Miami Booksellers Have to Say About It, Miami Dolphins Fan Guide to the 2023 NFL Draft, Shareholders Reeling in Wake of Miami SPAC-Merger Deals, Carollo Abuse-of-Power Trial Moves Forward in Wake of Jury-Tampering Claim. The same year, a copperheads bite put him in the hospital for a week. Two men came to our house, & they had a hook on the end of a pole, & a cloth bag, & they soon had the brightly colored but deadly snake in tow. "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. A krait anti-venom was shipped from India, but when it arrived after a 48-hour flight, he refused to accept it. I remember it sliding around my leg and shaking my leg till it feel off. 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. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, who would go on to become the face of Zoo Miami, Associated Press dispatch quoted a wildlife officer, Haast pumped nine shots from a Luger pistol, finally closing the tourist attraction in 1984. How lucky were we that we had this place? Haast, the world-renowned ''Miami snakeman,'' is now 95 and living on a sprawling Punta Gorda ranch with his third wife, Nancy -- and 400 snakes that supply his venom-selling Miami Serpentarium Laboratories.

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