I'm recommending this site to my grandson, Piers and now that I'm a snowbird residing in Ft. Myers part time, I'll keep watching for news of your 100th birthday party! I liked that his shows were practical and informative with very little hype, but fascinating nonetheless. . I also supplied 40 desert sidewinder rattlesnakes for Jim to exhibit in a large glass fronted cage filled with sea sand. Dr. Haast met my pediatrician at Baptist Hospital in Miami. Besides the mayor's key, they gave him a firefighter's helmet bearing the unit's name: Venom 1. Grainy WTVJ footage from 1962, now part of the Wolfson Archive, shows a fit, toothy 51-year-old Haast in a hospital recovering from his 79th snake bite his first ever by a King Cobra. Unfortunately, in 1977 a six-year-old boy fell into the crocodile pit at Miami Serpentarium and was killed by "Cookie", a 12-ft-long crocodile. He has written a book called 'The World of Snakes. ' A rare survivor, he declared himself doing "very well, anxious to get back to work.". Boy, 8, dragged underwater & killed by crocodile in front of horrified Haast finally sold the 5.2-acre lot, now in Pinecrest, for $3.2 million and headed to Utah for more snake research. Wow the good old days and funny thing is my name is Cookie!!! haasti is different from the parent species only by virtue of an unusual configuration of white coloration on the head and chin. It remains in my library to this day. on. Anyone can read what you share. So, on a trip to visit my parents in Miami, when Scot was two (1977), we took him to the Miami Serpentarium. Good memories of a time long ago. Crocodile That Killed Boy Is Shot to Death, https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/05/archives/crocodile-that-killed-boy-is-shot-to-death.html. My girlfiends and I would catch 7 - 8 foot Indio snakes and we would beg my mother to drive us over to the Serpentarium so we could sell the snakes to Dr. Haas. The Serpentarium opened at the end of 1947, still not completed. On the way from the Fontainebleau Hotel we heard that President Kennedy had been shot. ''I always meant for the attraction to support the venom research, but it just kept growing and growing. 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. He started extracting venom from his snakes when he was 15 years old, and dropped out of school when he was 16 years old. Yep, I was a snake kid, read all the books in my library, found "Cobras In His Garden" and was as surprised as my parents when Bill Haast wrote back to me a few times. Before this, the crocodile had lived for 20 years in the pit without incident. Bill Haast and the Miami Serpentarium - recent news articles As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. killed David Mark Wasson of West Palm Beach, Fla. 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. brightcove.createExperiences (); The toddler who was snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday, died as a result of . This is greatl so good to know that Doc is still alive and doing at least some of what he loves best. It was July, 1972, and my family was making our first visit to the Serpentarium. On Tuesday, Sheriff Demings said the child was snatched while on holiday with his mother, father and two siblings. Their daughters, Nya and Shantee probably do not even remeber me (it was in the early seventies). 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. 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! The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. As a kid, it was a thrill to see the man himself up close. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Haast eventually returned home, where his mother had leased a concession stand at a lakeside resort. The location of where the 2yr old is missing. FOR THE MIAMI HERALD King cobras. No matter where we went, Miami was Bill's real home. My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. Now if I can find out more about The Colonel? BOY KILLED The attraction prospered until a tragedy in 1977. It was'nt the aninmal's fault that boy fell into the pit (the alligator was where he was suppose to be. Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. When I opened the box I saw my new pet, a 6 foot beautiful Indigo Snake. His grey pleated linen trowsers were pressed and as spotless as his egyptian cotton White shirt, topped with a most stunning Pith Helment. Inside, the snake shows were pure drama with no frills, no fanfare, no drum roll, no silence please, no ladies and gentleman. The boy and another friend decided to go . Worst time of my life!!! I visited the Serpentarium November 22, 1965 while on my Honeymoon with my wife Lynne. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. Devastated villages shouted the name 'Dimas' in hope of the boy still being alive as the crocodile was hauled ashore. The resorts beach pool is next to the lake and overlooks the Seven Seas Lagoon. It was intuitive. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shoot and kill the 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe, Explosive end to case thats rocked America. After Bill sold the Serpentarium, our 12,000 sq.ft. God bless Mr. Haas, and all the good he has done, on top of the lives he has saved through his bravery and research. ''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. He suffered 17 bites that nearly killed him, one put him in an iron lung for three days, his system paralyzed. The event left Haast shaken and the next day, he shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. THIS SOFT SPOKEN WOMAN TURNED TO HER FAMILY AND SAID "I'VE COME ALL THE WAY TO MIAMI TO HAVE SOME SNAKE S__T ON ME". "Not to mention pretty damn smart. 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. A crocodile attacked and killed an 11-year-old boy in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, on Monday. World Crocodile attack Indonesia Crocodiles Alligator. Television, a book, big crowds, all helped to build up Haast's image and popularity. In my Junior high days, I was a snake enthusiast. We watched the show (I don't remember if the presenter was Mr. Haast), and afterwards, Scot was encouraged to touch several snakes. AN eight-year-old boy has been mauled to death by a crocodile just metres from his family home in Malaysia. My scary moment at the Serpentarium was to see the salt water crock in a deep pit jump up and snap a chicken before it hit the ground! Hi, my uncle Ted Kundtz just passed away a few months ago and he told me that he had helped out Mr. Haast when he was younger. Haast routinely injected himself with venom to build up resistance to the ill effects of the inevitable bites. There were others I recall, Monkey Jungle, Parrot Jungle, but none had the that eye catching element of suspense like The Serpentarium. 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. Disney honours two-year-old boy killed by alligator at park "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. ''I would hide them in my tool box,'' he said. National television shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Johnny Carson invited him or featured him during visits to Miami. great childhood memories spent there with my family , i remember getting goose bumps when we would see the cobra statue. 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. I am so glad to have found this site. ( Because they wouldn't let me move here by myself.) He introduced himself as Col. Spencer, I introduced myself as "I'm Mark and could my brother Dick come too?" The boy's family never sued, accepting only the maximum insurance payment, Haast said. We finally found them on the bottom of my feet. I'm 5'2 from s city in north Jersey myself, and the snake was about my size! Later that day, boy did he get back at the girl that had done this. 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. Now, he believes, the long-term benefits of the shots have spared him from many of the maladies of old age. https://t.co/suskABi6UPhttps://t.co/AfEdaZei5G. Bowker had hooked. There, sitting at a desk was Bill Haast. He agreed to chat only by telephone with a Miami Herald reporter. I believe that it was one of the great thrills of my life. His powerful blood also rescued 21 snake-bite victims. I could see their fears fade as they got the nerve to touch a real snake and realize that is wasn't slimy. [4] As of 2008 he continued to have his wife inject him with small amounts of snake venom. Florida is considered one of the most vulnerable states in America when it comes to rising sea levels, causing the ocean to start seeping into the Everglades swampland, where alligators live. 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. He could not have been nicer to us and spent some time talking to us. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. We have tried to cover and visualize some, we have implemented a hook with a strip to see if it pulls something, but to no avail. I have such respect for Mr. Haast and for all of his work. I visited the Serpentarium in the late 70s on a trip down to Key West. I've outlived all my friends down there.' THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has now been recovered. "He was a really nice man with a big heart," said his grand-niece Michelle Haast of Miami. Dr. Ben Sheppard mentioned in the article helped me with my drug addiction in 1974. Once I found an albino snake and she paid me for it, and then took it to Bill Haast. Bill Haast - Wikipedia Cloud, a venom business where the public can pay to watch workers extract venom from snakes. Originally, the shots immunized Haast against snake bites, an occupational hazard. But Haast had detractors. In 1990 he moved to Punta Gorda, Florida, with his snakes, where he established the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories.
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