The snake had disappeared, but I estimate that the snake, which had at least a one foot girth, was 14 feet or more. "Well my dear lad, if you should like I will write to my old friend from the war, Bill Hasst. All he did was yell ouch and that concludes the show for today. There's a picture of me and an indigo snake, probably nearly as long as I was tall. The attackers included cobras, a krait, green mambas, a pygmy rattlesnake, a European asp and a palm viper. I thought that was pretty cool back then, and still do. Police spokesperson Rohan Shah Ahmad said: "There were severe injuries on the boy's body including his waist, chest and stomach." 13 Knowing me from my letters, he seemed genuinely interested in the details I told him about my own small collection. Bill was sort of surprised but actually seemed happy to see me. 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. Haast eventually returned home, married and enrolled in airplane-mechanic school, but Florida called. Haast died June 15, 2011 at age 100. I can't imagine more suitable place than South Florida for Bill Haas's Serpentarium. In April 2010, a 25-year-old woman from New Jersey was killed by a . "Miami was in Bill's heart to the end," his widow said. In August 2020, the remains of a 14-year-old boy were cut from a crocodile's stomach after the reptile ate him alive. The victim, identified as Stambuli Bamusi, along with his friends, had gone . He gathered 400 cobras and took his findings to a University of Miami researcher. His first king cobra bite was in 1962. I liked that his shows were practical and informative with very little hype, but fascinating nonetheless. When he reached in to get it with his hook, he realized he had been had, then chose to play along and scare the audience who had already watched him take out a few deadly snakes from other boxes. In 1949, he began supplying venom to a medical researcher at the University of Miami for experiments in the treatment of polio. In the early 1970s, I was carrying out a survey to document the status of certain native reptiles and amphibians of a seven-county area iof siytgh Florida. I was a nurse in the ICU at Variety Children's Hospital on at least three of Haast's admissions after snake bites. Ditto for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Jeffrey Fobb, who frequented shows as a boy. 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. My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. Across the street, a Haast lived in a nice house. killed David Mark Wasson of West Palm Beach, Fla. I recently saw Mr. Hasst on wild kingdon with Jack Hanna (aired 1997 maybe). Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. The cobra that Elliot Arkin made was the one inside the building across from the office. In 1954 Haast was bitten by a common, or blue, krait. Since the county revived the antivenin bank in 1998, it has saved 1,000 snake-bite victims, Seigert said. When my family came to Miami in1961, they left me in Lakeland, Florida with my aunt and uncle, who happened to be an avid hunter/fisherman. What amemorable time, nobody was dissapointed and we all calmed down and talked quietly afterwaeds. On the way from the Fontainebleau Hotel we heard that President Kennedy had been shot. 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. We visited the Serp many times as a family visiting from Illinois and I have an autographed copy of Cobras In His Garden along with several movies that I gotta get moved over to DVD's.. Doc always took time to shake hands or pose for a picturetime that in retrospect I know he didn't really have to give, but he always did. His contribution to antivenin science is unparalleled and earned him recognition throughout his life. Dr. Ben Sheppard mentioned in the article helped me with my drug addiction in 1974. A 6-year-old boy fell into a crocodile pit and was killed. The attack happened on Friday, Dec. 11 during the afternoon in Borneo, Malaysia. I recall Carlita as being a very exotic woman with her eyes made up just like snake's eyes! "Any time I saw an unusual snake I brought it back," Haast said, sitting on cushioned patio furniture. Boy Dies After Falling Into Crocodile Pit, https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/04/archives/boy-dies-after-falling-into-crocodile-pit.html. #BreakingNews #Orlando pic.twitter.com/8AUeiXdmBk, Search crews at Grand Floridian Beach pic.twitter.com/wTCsxsJwNO, Search party is growing pic.twitter.com/AwpHtHwgXy. In 1982 when I was twelve I moved from England to Hollywood, Fl with my family. In the past week, The Voice singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead and 49 people were also killed in Orlandos Pulse nightclub by gunman Omar Mateen in a terror attack. The concrete & stucco cobra was the second icon of the Serpentarium. It's a shame good things must always come to an end, isn't it? I was about 9 yrs old, and always remembered the story vividly. A 911 call was received at 9.16pm local time. As a result of the damage, Haast gave up handling venomous snakes, and no longer kept any at his facility. One particular snake that I remember from my childhood visits to the Serpentarium was a big, oversized Florida Eastern Diamond Back rattlesnake. Watching Bill milk then tube feed special formula into those angry hooded cobras he'd take out of the boxes is something I will never forget. ", Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. After his wife became pregnant, Haast lost his job when the speakeasy he was working at was raided by IRS agents. In the first chapter a bunch of young boys are headed to a swimming hole; one boy races ahead and dives in. AJ Jain, a guest at the hotel, told The Orlando Sentinel he and his family were playing at the beach just hours earlier. It took a group of people to get . In 1990 he moved to Punta Gorda, Florida, with his snakes, where he established the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories. 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. See the article in its original context from. Another interesting attraction there were the large Galopagas turtles he had. I was 16 yrs.old and going outside at night with no shoes on and stepped on the snake in the dark. CAKEGATE 2023: Bad Bunny's Restaurant Accused of Gobbling Birthday Girl's Cake, Death Train: A Timeline of Brightline Fatalities in South Florida UPDATED, Neighborhood Nazi Jon Minadeo Peddles Hate by the Minute, Sen. Rubio's Permanent Daylight Savings Bill Sees Light of Day Once More, NFL Legend Ray Lewis Joins World Jai-Alai League Board of Directors, Affordable New "Micro-Units" Slated for Little River, Edgewater. 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! Sheriff Demings identified the young boy as two-year-old Lane Graves of Nebraska, whose parents are Matt and Melissa Graves. His next bite, later the same year, came from a four-foot copperhead. Haast started collecting snakes and, after initial opposition from his mother, was allowed to keep them at home. WHEN WE WENT TO THE SERPENTARIUM, WE WERE IN THE CROWD WITH MOSTLY OUT OF TOWNERS. He said his last snakebite, Number 173 suffered in 2003 -- courtesy of a Malaysian pit viper -- was the final blow to his hands, already mangled from years of enduring the nerve- and tissue-destroying poison that snakes spew when biting. Well, my mother went on a vacation to the Miami area. During this time Haast met and married his second wife, Clarita Matthews. I remember those two huge crocs, one Nile and one American. My mother was deathly afraid of snakes but she was a real trooper driving us to Dr. Haas, all the while saying, you better not let that snake go in this car! I worked at the Serpentarium for roughly a year, about two years before it closed. Before this, the crocodile had lived for 20 years in the pit without incident. An eight-year-old boy was mauled to death by a crocodile just metres from his family home in Malaysia. RIP kind soul. [2] After closing the Serpentarium, he opened the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories, a facility in Punta Gorda, Florida that produced snake venom for medical and research use. There were two fatal alligator attacks in Florida last year in the first reported deaths since 2007. Haast eventually returned home, where his mother had leased a concession stand at a lakeside resort. "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. In 2002 a 23-year-old German tourist was killed in Kakadu National Park by a 15-foot, 1,100-pound (4.6-meter, 500-kilogram) saltwater crocodile when she disregarded warning signs and went for a . Funny thing is, he had different ideas about that. He landed a job with Miami-based Pan American Airways. Dogs, birds, skunks (if I remember correctly) and of course reptiles. I was the only customer there that early. 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. For years, Haast tried to prove that venom could treat multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis and Parkinson's disease. The show was great. Thank you, Dr. Haast, for all your good works and trailblazing in this still to be fully recognized work.and for the fascinating memories. Others joined Haast. 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. The crane lifted the 35-foot stucco cobra Saturday. A small alligator, maybe 5 foot with tail had gotten loose and was wandering. According to eyewitnesses, the toddlers mother, Ms Graves, was playing with him at the time and also dived into the water. I never forgot Mr. Haast and his snakes, and, to this day, I am not scared of snakes or any other animals. I think its horrible that he killed that animal. How lucky were we that we had this place? Opening day was Jan. 1, 1948. My dad and I still talk about this over 40 years later! Res The boy's father and another man, Nicolas Caulineau, jumped into the pit and straddled the crocodile. For the first five years Bill, Clarita, and his son were the only staff. He shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times with a Luger pistol, yet it was still an hour before it died. I'm sure they still carry around enough guilt, even after all this time, without you adding to it. I recall the incident where the child died -- it was very tragic and Mr. Haast clearly felt terrible about it. "My So-Called Life", pg. My friend Jim Danaaldson who procured and trained animals for the film industry had set up a Reptile Exposition at Devonshire downs and I was an exhibiter . The boy's father and uncle jumped into the ?it and tried to pry open the crocodile's mouth. The event left Haast shaken and the next day, he shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times. Julio's distraught parents have urged authorities to find the crocodile and kill it. Later that day, boy did he get back at the girl that had done this. As many families do, the Malaysian family had a get together with some friends. Behind him rose an 8-foot concrete cobra statue that once decorated the serpentarium. haasti is different from the parent species only by virtue of an unusual configuration of white coloration on the head and chin. I think one of the two men was Mr. Haast himself. I also remember hearing a story about him saving the lives of GI`s in Vietnam who had jumped from a helicopter into some poisonous snakes. Glad to see many others share great memories of the Serpentarium. The findings were very encouraging, Haast said. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Turns out that I was talking to Bill Hast. As a kid, it was a thrill to see the man himself up close. ''I knew it was over then.'' it stirred interest faster than the key lime pie and local jelly signs. My Parents said we know Mr. Haast would you like to see his snake farm. 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. Bill Haast, the crocodile's owner, was not talking to reporters. I still have his autograph and some great snapshots of that meet & greet. [4] As of 2008 he continued to have his wife inject him with small amounts of snake venom. 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. Thanks again Bill.. 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. Bowker, of New York, pleaded guilty for his role in arranging for 22 snakes to be delivered to the Serpentarium in an apparent swap for the same number of American alligators. As a young Canadian boy back in the 1960`s. May he live far past the hundreds. 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. They moved to Florida so that Haast could pursue his dream of opening a "snake farm". Anyone can read what you share. Horses had developed resistance to the poisons through the same process, and the blood of those horses was used to create life-saving antivenin. The last time I saw him he told me never to get bit again and offered me a job. Keep it up Mr. Haast. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Access from your Country was disabled by the administrator. I witnessed one such snake in 1985 on a dirt road in northeast Florida. Once I found an albino snake and she paid me for it, and then took it to Bill Haast. Haast saw that a boy had fallen into the crocodile pit. His hands are gnarled and deadened, some fingers hang immobile, some look stunted in growth, and a pinky and index finger have been amputated at the knuckle, photographs taken by his wife reveal. Adrian Zorzut; Published: 14:52, 10 Nov 2022; Updated: 16:08, 10 Nov 2022; local news and culture. In 1977, a 6-year-old fell into a reptile pit at the Serpentarium and was killed by an 1,800-pound crocodile named Cookie. 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. Soon after opening the Serpentarium, Haast began experimenting with building up an acquired immunity to the venom of King, Indian and Cape cobras by injecting himself with gradually increasing quantities of venom he had extracted from his snakes, a practice called mithridatism. Haast retained custody of their son, Bill Jr. and continued to work as a mechanic for Pan Am while he built the Serpentarium. 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. Cruz called Haast after a man was bitten by a Black Mamba, one of the most poisonous snakes of Africa. I hope you live to 100 to prove snake venon is an anti aging wonder. My uncle introduced me to the Florida Eastern Diamondback that grew up to 6 feet in length. Well I then came to his web site to find out how old Mr. Haast is today or if he is still alive. 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. a woman in Florida died after she fell into a pond and was attacked by two alligators, the remains of a 14-year-old boy were cut from a crocodile's stomach, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. . 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. 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. He was back at it next week when we came again to fill the popcorn machines. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. However, the venom eventually did affect him, and he was taken to a hospital where it took him several days to recover. For some in Miami, though, the whole debate has stirred up painful memories of another tragic incident. Haast routinely injected himself with venom to build up resistance to the ill effects of the inevitable bites. Cookie broke free and took the boy underwater. 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 was in 1960, I was in my junior year at San fernando Valley State college at Northridge ,California. Drivers passing the former site of. I would take the rattlesnake skins and rub salt into them to try to preserve them. "I just have a curious nature," he said. Supposedly, this Timacuan sub-species and the nearby Mexican Bush Master are the largest poisonous snakes in the world and Bill Hass had both of them in his World famous Serpentarium. Thanks Bill for the show and GOD bless. People were always getting bitten, but they are so small that they rarely killed anyone. On two trips to Florida in the late 60s, my parents took me to The Serpentarium. IE 11 is not . Authorities said the boy, who fell about three metres, was expected to recover after being picked up and dragged by Harambe for about 10 minutes. I contacted him while the car was in shop and $2200.00 later it was mine. The Serpentarium was a magical place and Mr. Haast was a very interesting fellow. I helped the staff along with about 6-8 other visitors in straightening out the snake (as much as he would let us), to be measured. THE body of the two-year-old boy, Lane Graves, snatched by an alligator at a Disney resort has now been recovered. He suddenly dropped his hook and reached in with his hand, and grabbed it then swung it over the heads of the audience. He had so much venom in him that we were told even a bee sting could kill him. When the show headed to Florida, Haast convinced his parents to let him go. Most people working in the biological field take some pride in having a species or subspecies named for them, but Haast seemed to have none of that. Green mambas. I've tried to keep up with him from time to time. I said yes, I got to feed his snakes white mice, met his daughter (she had a pet lion), used to catch snakes and sell them to Mr. There were eyewitnesses here who certainly saw the child taken under the water, Sheriff Demings said. 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. Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahaler said everyone at the resort was devastated by what happened and Disney was helping the family. During its heyday, it attracted about 50,000 Florida visitors a year. I still miss the animals. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles, a 20-foot-long python. When she reached into the box and found movement inside she shrieked so loudly we could hear her from far across the large garden, and we chuckled "I guess she found it" Someone said. ``I feel like a man in his 60s.'' 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]. Icon: Bill Haast. .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, In those days there were no laws prohibiting it, but the crew members didn't appreciate it.[6]. There was a "movie night" outside on the beach tonight Saying the alligator might have attacked the baby on the beach. 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. I also supplied 40 desert sidewinder rattlesnakes for Jim to exhibit in a large glass fronted cage filled with sea sand. We visited the Serpentarium and it was an amazing experience that I remember vividly to this day. However, we kept them because they made good pets. He respected him very much. . Just heard the mother grieving her baby. I knocked and went in. In 2018, Indonesian villagers armed with knives, hammers and clubs slaughtered 292 crocodiles in revenge for the death of a man killed by a crocodile at a breeding farm, Reuters reported. 'There is no reason to visit Miami. My mother took my brother and I to the serpentarium in 1977. I can still recall watching a 12 or 14 ft gator, said to have been the largest but for its missing tail. Alligator seen dragging child into the water. 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. But he still wakes up each morning to turn snake venom from across the globe into freeze-dried powder for medical laboratories. I've outlived all my friends down there.' [9] In an August 2008 Florida Trend interview, he stated, "Aging is hard. Now close to 60, a S. Floridian I can still remember driving by that concrete cobra many times. Furthermore, you shouldn't speak about how a parent should have kept a better eye on their dead son. boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium In 1965, Cobras in his Garden, a book about Haast's exploits, was published. 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. He was bitten for the first time at summer camp a year later, when he tried to capture a small timber rattlesnake. Police confirmed that human remains found in a saltwater crocodile caught nearby were those of the boy.