Haast was also bitten by a green mamba. We lived in Southern California. It is unclear whether the attack was fatal. It was a rattle snake. 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. Haast eventually returned home, married and enrolled in airplane-mechanic school, but Florida called. All rights reserved, See Where Florida Ranks Among The Cheapest and Most Expensive U.S. I got excited thinking it was a new toy. [4] As of 2008 he continued to have his wife inject him with small amounts of snake venom. 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. The boy and another friend decided to go . The giant concrete-and-stucco cobra was donated to South Miami Senior High but fell apart during its move to the school. Well he is alive and well at the age of 97or 98 and still apparently working with snakes; he said he felt there would come a time when he would not be able work with them but I guest he still is. When she got in the car she said she had a suprise for me. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. Turns out that I was talking to Bill Hast. I think its horrible that he killed that animal. My father grew up and was born in Paterson, as well. Haast saw that a boy had fallen into the crocodile pit. In 1964, a book was written about him. 12-year-old boy Charlie Buhl describes crocodile attack, rescue at This tornado also picked up a dredge crane, working on one of the drainage canals, and placed it across the canal without any significant damage. Crocodile Kills 11-Year-Old Boy Swimming In River, Reptile Killed 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. 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. I got my love of snakes (I'm a girl) growing up in Miami going repeatedly to the Serpentarium. We watched Mr. Haast with fascination as he milked the snakes. The couple moved back to New Jersey, where Haast studied aviation mechanics, and was certified after four years. I will forever carry fond memories of "Doc" and how he turned my life around. Thanks for jogging my memory. It was an experiment, but having received his first venomous snake bite as a teenager, Haast was used to risks. The resorts beach pool is next to the lake and overlooks the Seven Seas Lagoon. Hanley "Doc" Harding, Aurora Protection Specialists. Even though the Serpentarium was there, some people still got bitten, and died from the poisonous snakes. It's been five years since an alligator snatched 2-year-old Lane Graves who was playing on the beach at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, dragging the boy into the Seven Seas . 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. I think one of the two men was Mr. Haast himself. For years, Haast tried to prove that venom could treat multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. Bill's dedication to helping science, medicine, and snakebite victims was always unwavering. The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. In April 2010, a 25-year-old woman from New Jersey was killed by a . I never forgot Mr. Haast and his snakes, and, to this day, I am not scared of snakes or any other animals. At the time I envisioned growing up and working for Bill, learning to snatch & milk snakes. I read here about the boy who was killed after falling into the crocidile pit. "We know that there are crocodiles and burrows, but we don't have a notion or a pattern to work on.". THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has now been recovered. Boy Dies After Falling Into Crocodile Pit - The New York Times That was South Dade, Florida, relatively free of the most venomous snakes because Bill Hass and the Serpentarium. I also supplied 40 desert sidewinder rattlesnakes for Jim to exhibit in a large glass fronted cage filled with sea sand. In an enclosure) his parents should have supervised him much better. 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. I can't imagine more suitable place than South Florida for Bill Haas's Serpentarium. AJ Jain, a guest at the hotel, told The Orlando Sentinel he and his family were playing at the beach just hours earlier. Haast maintained a similar bank in Miami when he ran the Serpentarium theme park, which closed in 1984. Since the county revived the antivenin bank in 1998, it has saved 1,000 snake-bite victims, Seigert said. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Today, a McDonald's and a shopping center sit where the Serpentarium once thrilled. When we said goodby, I knew this was a moment I would remember for the rest of my life. In 1949, he began supplying venom to a medical researcher at the University of Miami for experiments in the treatment of polio. Crocodile attack in Australia: Boy, 12, killed | CNN I came upon a reference to a varieth of the black racer that bears the name Coluber constrictor haasti. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, population growth and increasing participation in water-related activities are resulting in more frequent alligator-human interactions. We used to hunt non-poisonous snakes in the Glades, Homestead farmlands: king snakes, red ratsnakes, yellow ratsnakes, indigos, black racers, etc., and take them down to mr Haas and he had a yardstick on the table and would measure them by the foot, pay us maybe .25cents/foot for the ratsnake, .35/foot for the kingsnakes, etc. Tragically, a 6-year-old boy fell in and died in 1977. Using nothing but a thin hooked metal rod. Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. Haast physically extracted venom from venomous snakes by holding them by the head and forcing them to bite a rubber membrane covering a vial. But none the less just because Mr. Hass felt bad about what happened he, Haas, shot the alligator for no reason. Florida Icon - Bill Haast, Snake Handler - Miami Serpentarium Horror as remains of '14-year-old boy' are cut from massive crocodile's As time went on, I read about Bill now and then, such as when he was bitten by the Gaboon viper in the 1970s, and a few other dangerous ones. He respected him very much. Thanks Bill for the show and GOD bless. A second boy, 15, was bitten but escaped. As a young teenager in the mid 1960's I was very interested in all types of reptiles. By 1984, interest in such roadside attractions like the Serpentarium had waned. It was slithering across the road, which was about 11 feet across and the snakes head and tail were not clearly visible. But Haast had detractors. We watched the show (I don't remember if the presenter was Mr. Haast), and afterwards, Scot was encouraged to touch several snakes. My oldest brother had met a girl who, I believe, had worked at the Miami Serpentarium. While there, a gentleman drove in with a huge python he caught on his property and had in a wire basket. I was probably the first Bill Haast copycat and started self-immunizing with various snake venoms over here in London since the age of twenty. The boy's father was helpless to save his son from the creature. Boy, 8, dragged underwater & killed by crocodile in front of horrified 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. This time it came out! 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. independent local journalism in Miami. ``Funny, the very place I wanted to get away from, I now miss. Devastated villages shouted the name 'Dimas' in hope of the boy still being alive as the crocodile was hauled ashore. 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. ''Failing at this is one of my biggest regrets,'' Haast said. When we got home, she handed me a small travel bag that she had carried with her on board the airplane. "One hypothesis is that the animal took the child to the burrow or cave, and there are burrows and caves, but we don't know which one of them it is. By 1965 the Serpentarium housed more than 500 snakes in 400 cages and three pits in the courtyard. That photo is one of my favorite collectables. My Parents said we know Mr. Haast would you like to see his snake farm. It was 1929. 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. He was born in 1910 in Paterson, N.J., to German-American parents -- his father was a mechanic, his mom a housewife. RESEARCH WAS GOAL For Haast, the bites, the snakes and the Serpentarium were only a means to an end.