Hanley "Doc" Harding, Aurora Protection Specialists. After his wife became pregnant, Haast lost his job when the speakeasy he was working at was raided by IRS agents. My "fondest" memory: sitting on the side of the crock pit with my butt hanging over the edge, the wall wasn't but a couple feet tall, right? On that trip, I held the very long Indigo snake, and my friend, Ann, took a picture of me. Anyone can read what you share. "If I live to be 100, I'll really make the point.''. Thanks Bill for the show and GOD bless. CHICAGO A 3-year-old boy has died after he was shot in the face while inside a home in the Calumet Heights neighborhood last weekend. By the mid-1960s he was putting on five shows a day, dressed in a white lab coat, extracting venom to sell for scientific experimentation. I took care of Clarita Haast's original Continental Mark. Later that day, boy did he get back at the girl that had done this. Haast went to the pit with a pistol the very next day and shot the croc. 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. 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. After Bill sold the Serpentarium, our 12,000 sq.ft. "Any time I saw an unusual snake I brought it back," Haast said, sitting on cushioned patio furniture. Linkedin. Haast eventually returned home, married and enrolled in airplane-mechanic school, but Florida called. So long Mr. Haast, you were a great man. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. I have watched tv programs about him on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. "And in the end the research could take care of itself.". There were others I recall, Monkey Jungle, Parrot Jungle, but none had the that eye catching element of suspense like The Serpentarium. Palm vipers. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. A son, William Haast Jr., predeceased him. According to Wikipedia, Haast first developed an interest in snakes as an 11-year- old Boy Scout while at a Boy Scout summer camp. I lived just across the road from Bill's place in 1959 thru 1961 and went. Did you know that Charlie Baxter aka MT GRAVES IS STILL ALIVE & is one hell of a nice guy. 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. I was inspired by him because as kids we used to go all through the Evergaldes looking for snakes to catch. We entered the Serpentarium and a fellow (Haas) walked out of the back office to greet the tourists and said" he's dead" referring to John F. Kennedy, President of the USA. The Serpentarium was a magical place and Mr. Haast was a very interesting fellow. MIAMI - The name of the 15-year-old who was shot and killed in northwest Miami-Dade on Wednesday has been released. Among them a zoo director from Des Moines, a local construction worker and a Venezuelan father. Senseing this the king made an immediate move toward the door to challenge. It was a close call, one that underscored the county's need for an antivenin bank, Cruz said. 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 FOR THE MIAMI HERALD King cobras. I visited many times in the 60's - 70's. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles and a 20-foot python. When we got home, she handed me a small travel bag that she had carried with her on board the airplane. Detectives said when they arrived to the scene, people were attempting to take the teen to the hospital. Venezuela made him an honorary citizen after he went deep into the jungle to give a boy a pint of blood. When she got in the car she said she had a suprise for me. Finding this site reminds me what saints my parents were! For all the time he spent with snakes, Mr. Haast harbored no illusions that they liked him. THAT WAS THE MOST MEMORIBLE PART OF THAT VACATION. At 19, he got a job with a roadside snake attraction. I thought that was pretty cool back then, and still do. I didn't know what to do with it, so I call the Miami Serpentarium. Bill Jr. eventually left, having lost interest in snakes, but not before he had been bitten four times by venomous snakes. Crowds cheered as he collected venom from the snakes in dramatic displays. "Not to mention pretty damn smart. What a rush. 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. 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. I'm very glad I did. 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. His grey pleated linen trowsers were pressed and as spotless as his egyptian cotton White shirt, topped with a most stunning Pith Helment. At the time I envisioned growing up and working for Bill, learning to snatch & milk snakes. William Haast at his Miami Serpentarium in the 1950's. 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. I. Woww! They considered him a glorified snake-handler, a showman, a medicine man. He made special trips, bringing back such perilous species as cobras and saw-scaled vipers. His wife Nancy says Haast died Wednesday evening, June 15, 2011. His daughter Nya, my sister and I used to play together. When I opened the box I saw my new pet, a 6 foot beautiful Indigo Snake. Oh my gosh..I worked on Bill and Nancy's house in P.G 15-20 years agomold issueshumidity problems..put an air exchanger in their snake area to control odorbut had strict guidelines to maintain high humidity. One of the girls fainted right in my dad's arms! For some in Miami, though, the whole debate has stirred up painful memories of another tragic incident. Also wonder if that huge Cobra statue is still on the property..and still scary as hell!!!!!!!!! Like I said, we were always grabbing any snakes we came across, and one day finally got a Moccasin. God bless Mr. Haas, and all the good he has done, on top of the lives he has saved through his bravery and research. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 'There is no reason to visit Miami. I think its horrible that he killed that animal. I would see him periodically. My first visit to the Serpentarium was in the summer of '56 when I visited family friends who lived on Key Biscayne. The animal was of no harm to anyone other than the fool who would allow his self to fall in. 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. Feature Vignette: Analytics. I believe that it was one of the great thrills of my life. 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. His cane was an exotic mixture of ebony and ivory. independent local journalism in Miami. Friday, his wife, Nancy, put his lifetime tally at 172. But Haast no longer can handle the forked-tongued killers that made him famous. On the way from the Fontainebleau Hotel we heard that President Kennedy had been shot. .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]. On one trip, Dr. Haast was there, but not in his office or outside on the lawn as usual. At the UM, Haast led in the testing of the serum on monkeys. That was in 1971 and I kept that car until 3 years ago when I sold it for 35000.00 in pieces. I then got a "thank you". Haast added a snake exhibit to the business. I contacted him while the car was in shop and $2200.00 later it was mine. Haast routinely injected himself with venom to build up resistance to the ill effects of the inevitable bites. He has written a book called 'The World of Snakes. ' Small world. I gathered from what he said that it would not bother him in the least were this variety of snake removed from its separate classification and returned to the larger taxon from which someone had extracted it. After dropping out of school at 16, he joined a roadside snake show that made its way to Florida in the late 1920s. I grew up near the Serpentarium , and played baseball @ Suniland Park..Many times during games , an iguana that had escaped from the serpentarium , would run across the field..As kids , we too ,sold snakes to the facility , and we managed to see the show several times a yearwe would ride our bikes to Parrot Jungle and the Serpentarium and see all kinds of rare wild animals and snakes , and birds , then fish salt or fresh water within a few miles of homegreat place to grow up in the 60's. The snake attraction soon failed during the Depression, so Mr. Haast went to work for a bootlegger in the Everglades, where he was pleased to find plenty of snakes. The crime . Police are searching for the shooter and the murder weapon used. I've outlived all my friends down there.' In the late 40's and early 50's I lived in Marathon on the Keys. During its heyday, it attracted about 50,000 Florida visitors a year. I got excited thinking it was a new toy. This official Bill Haast website is being presented in honor of one of the greatest pioneers, visionaries, humanitarians and scientists of all time. In the summer of 1972 I was bitten by a pygmy rattle snake in the middle of a subdivision in south Miami. "I know a lot of people in Miami still remember the Serpentarium and wonder what became of me," he said, "that's why I'm talking to you.''. And now, 66 years later, it can be said unequivocally that Bill . (2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. After the CBS News program 60 Minutes did a report on the subject in December 1979, interest in the serum surged. We visited the Serpentarium and it was an amazing experience that I remember vividly to this day. But the reptile managed to crawl away into a moat in the 50foot square pit, dragging the child with him. It was 1929. In the first chapter a bunch of young boys are headed to a swimming hole; one boy races ahead and dives in. Thank you for the bio of this incredible man. More animals than anyone I ever knew, and of every variety. It was buried on the grounds. I think that this Dr., was loved by thousands of Miamians, because of him lives are save. 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. Needless to say I was quite nervous also, thinking of what might happen if that snake went through the crowd. 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! Is it the venom? Luckily though, I see from visiting one of the links that there is an attraction to view snake milking in St. Nevertheless, researchers have continued to work on drugs made from venom in the hope of using it to treat cancer, Alzheimers and other diseases. She finally agreed to let him keep a snake or two in cages. The Miami Serpentarium, an early Florida roadside tourist attraction, was once located on this site. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. He was a local celebrity known for something really worthwhile (unlike so many celebrities nowadays). It's a shame good things must always come to an end, isn't it? 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. In 1982 when I was twelve I moved from England to Hollywood, Fl with my family. I grew up in North Miami Beach and remember going to the Serpentarium many times, but my favorites were Sundays when the King Cobra came out. For the first five years Bill, Clarita, and his son were the only staff. Bridgette Matter joined the Local 10 News team as a reporter in July 2021. A small alligator, maybe 5 foot with tail had gotten loose and was wandering. Horses had developed resistance to the poisons through the same process, and the blood of those horses was used to create life-saving antivenin. We took 3-4 water snakes there that closely resembled the deadly Water Moccasin, only to be turned away penniless. The boy's father and uncle jumped into the ?it and tried to pry open the crocodile's mouth. 76. My brother was always over there buying, trading snakes. Great memories. I've outlived all my friends down there.'' flashbackmiami.com/2013/11/26/serpentarium-2/, Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 15_4_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/15.4 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1. As far as how many times, that will be determined by the autopsy results by the ME office.. "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, Pages with login required references or sources, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 March 2022, at 06:33. My father grew up and was born in Paterson, as well. But thanks to Bill, there were not many poisonous snakes left in South Dade in the 60s-70s when I had an youngsters craving for catching reptiles. The man then went next door with his . Apparently the damaged tail had to be amputated afterwards. 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. Great job on the article! It was a rattle snake. No matter where we went, Miami was Bill's real home. I never forgot Mr. Haast and his snakes, and, to this day, I am not scared of snakes or any other animals. I grew up living close to the Haast's in the 60's. Haast is still trying to prove a point: He'll go to his grave believing venom can heal. "Our unit wouldn't be around if it wasn't for him; he's the inspiration," said Al Cruz, the unit's founder, standing beneath the tall branches of a live oak that Haast had allowed to grow through his screened pool patio. "Well my dear lad, if you should like I will write to my old friend from the war, Bill Hasst. I remember reading Bill Haast book Cobras in My Garden, one of the most interesting books I have ever read. My uncle introduced me to the Florida Eastern Diamondback that grew up to 6 feet in length. According to his arrest report, Archie Cox Jr., of Miami, was taken into custody April 3 on a second-degree murder charge. Donated several snakes over the years also, mostly coral snakes from Opa Locka area. My Parents said we know Mr. Haast would you like to see his snake farm. The whole experience seemed to do the trick, as he never displayed such fear of snakes again after that. Haast physically extracted venom from venomous snakes by holding them by the head and forcing them to bite a rubber membrane covering a vial. not on the animals, or even the people walking around. 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. He was able to identify the type of snake that bit me by the bite marks. One day I noticed his handshis fingersthey were deformend, mangled, sort of like a something from an old horror moviea result--one of many, of having been bitten by so many venomous snakesI think his own blood was an anti-venom, as a result of being bitten so much, I think he used to distribute this "antivenom (his blood)worldwide to snakebite vicims. Police are searching for the shooter and the murder weapon used. He loved his animals and was deeply committed to bringing them to the world in an educated, and respectful manner. My granddaddy was Robert Kundtz, horticulurist. I asked him one evening if I could walk with him he said yes in the baritone of gentle command. Today Dec26, 2008 I am looking at his picture some 45 years later and hooks the same. But I still think he should not have shot that alligator. The same year, a copperheads bite put him in the hospital for a week. I liked that his shows were practical and informative with very little hype, but fascinating nonetheless. 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. ''It was the best snake show there ever will be,'' said George Van Horn, a frequent visitor who now runs a similar attraction in Central Florida. The Roberson Funeral Home of Port Charlotte said Friday that arrangements were incomplete. "[7], Haast turned 100 in December 2010[10] and died on June 15, 2011.[1].
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