One time, he bought a black snake from Mr. Haast, named it "Rodney" and promptly wrapped it around my neck when my mom wasn't looking. As a young Canadian boy back in the 1960`s. Sometimes a snake would upstage Haast, biting him in front of spectators. When he had enough, he opened the Serpentarium in Miami in 1946. Palm vipers. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. They paid my mother something like $10 or more for the snake. All he did was yell ouch and that concludes the show for today. Staff at the resort were unwilling to comment on the incident. 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. AN eight-year-old boy has been mauled to death by a crocodile just metres from his family home in Malaysia. But he felt he couldn't continue to feed the crocodile and display him under these conditions.. Tonight at Walt Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel crews search Seven Seas Lagoon for possible alligator attack victim pic.twitter.com/lVSOxivh05. Police spokesperson Rohan Shah Ahmad said: "There were severe injuries on the boy's body including his waist, chest and stomach." 13 boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium. I am transferring my old pictures to new albums and came across our photos at The Serpentarium in 1973 when we were there with our family while on vacatin. 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 . I grew up living close to the Haast's in the 60's. He said at that time if he lived to be 100 it would possibly prove that snake venom is anti aging. flashbackmiami.com/2013/11/26/serpentarium-2/, Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 15_5 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) GSA/219.0.457350353 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1. I was inspired by him because as kids we used to go all through the Evergaldes looking for snakes to catch. They moved to Florida so that Haast could pursue his dream of opening a "snake farm". 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. 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 didn't do it out of anger because the crocodile was just doing what comes naturally to him, Clarita Haast said. When she got in the car she said she had a suprise for me. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. It was 1929. 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. The attraction had a gift shop, 400-pound turtles, a 20-foot-long python. 'There is no reason to visit Miami. More than twenty of those individuals recovered.[7]. ''Failing at this is one of my biggest regrets,'' Haast said. I've outlived all my friends down there.' It was'nt the aninmal's fault that boy fell into the pit (the alligator was where he was suppose to be. ``If I live to be 100 I'll really make the point.'' There were others I recall, Monkey Jungle, Parrot Jungle, but none had the that eye catching element of suspense like The Serpentarium. Haast routinely injected himself with venom to build up resistance to the ill effects of the inevitable bites. Shame on Hass and the parents this poor animal was slaughtered. Bill was like a super hero to me as a kid. Haast was also bitten by a green mamba. "I could become a poster boy for the benefits of venom," Haast boasted. PARROT JUNGLE, MONKEY JUNGLE, SEAQUARIUM, ETC. I always had one or more in my bedroom and it drove my mom nuts.. Art Levy | 8/1/2008. For the first five years Bill, Clarita, and his son were the only staff. One of the girls fainted right in my dad's arms! My Grandfather was a construction worker and used to drop me off there every day over the summer, and weekends when he would work. It took a group of people to get . ''Haast was an iconic figure in the snake world and innovator in the field of venom collecting,'' said Fobb, who keeps a photo of Haast and a king cobra in his office. Needless to say I was quite nervous also, thinking of what might happen if that snake went through the crowd. The Depression killed the snake attraction, so Haast went to work for a bootlegger based in the Florida Everglades, until revenue agents busted their still. Join the New Times community and help support I've tried to keep up with him from time to time. Good memories of a time long ago. World; North America; Alligator drags child into lake near Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. In my Junior high days, I was a snake enthusiast. Wow the good old days and funny thing is my name is Cookie!!! "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.". Not sure she had quite the same fascination that I did but it's still very memorable. For some in Miami, though, the whole debate has stirred up painful memories of another tragic incident. "Since we don't know which cave it is, or which crocodile because there are several, it's very difficult to focus on a single point. 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. When asked if Disney was aware of alligators on the property, Wahaler advised there were signs that said no swimming. 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. 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. Boy, 8, mauled to death by crocodile in front of horrified parents after being dragged underwater as he played. Today, a McDonald's and a shopping center sit where the Serpentarium once thrilled. 2, my first Indigo. Furthermore, you shouldn't speak about how a parent should have kept a better eye on their dead son. I remember reading Bill Haast book Cobras in My Garden, one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Another interesting attraction there were the large Galopagas turtles he had. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. But his wife said that the crocodile, named Cookie, was killed and buried in the same pit where it. A crocodile mauled and killed an 8-year-old boy near his home in Malaysia. It stood almost eye level with Bill and lunged repeatedly as it advanced across the floor toward him. She was quite a Mom. Voted for the photo and the biographical info. His cane was an exotic mixture of ebony and ivory. The giant concrete-and-stucco cobra was donated to South Miami Senior High but fell apart during its move to the school. We visited the Serpentarium and it was an amazing experience that I remember vividly to this day. Anyone can read what you share. My brother was always over there buying, trading snakes. Haast maintained a similar bank in Miami when he ran the Serpentarium theme park, which closed in 1984. What amemorable time, nobody was dissapointed and we all calmed down and talked quietly afterwaeds. By then Cookie, the 12-foot, 2,000-pound crocodile, had the boy in its mouth. I contacted him while the car was in shop and $2200.00 later it was mine. "Not to mention pretty damn smart. I visited the Serpentarium November 22, 1965 while on my Honeymoon with my wife Lynne. When the show headed to Florida, Haast convinced his parents to let him go. I believe he gave them some of his blood with the anti-bodies and that saved their lives. Did you know that Charlie Baxter aka MT GRAVES IS STILL ALIVE & is one hell of a nice guy. Like for so many others, the Serpentarium was a place of wonder for me in my youth. On that trip, I held the very long Indigo snake, and my friend, Ann, took a picture of me. Im standing outside watching them search for someones baby, she wrote on Twitter. i grew -up in south fla. in the sixties through the eighties,reading about bill haast brought back so many great memories.it was a huge treat when my mom and dad would pile all five of us kids in our station wagon a few times a year and spend the day at the miami serpentarium. Donated several snakes over the years also, mostly coral snakes from Opa Locka area. Early in Haast's career, he slogged the wilds of the Everglades collecting cottonmouths and rattlers. Jaws dropped. In 1949, he began supplying venom to a medical researcher at the University of Miami for experiments in the treatment of polio. I took care of Clarita Haast's original Continental Mark. "He was a really nice man with a big heart," said his grand-niece Michelle Haast of Miami. "My other children act strong, but one realises that they are sad. Opening day was Jan. 1, 1948. But he still wakes up each morning to turn snake venom from across the globe into freeze-dried powder for medical laboratories. I recently saw Mr. Hasst on wild kingdon with Jack Hanna (aired 1997 maybe). 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 comes after a four-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo last month. Tragically, a 6-year-old boy fell in and died in 1977. [8], Haast closed the Serpentarium in 1984, and moved to Utah for a few years. In his heyday, he was flown around the world to hospitals where people bitten by rare snakes would have died without his blood. I believe that it was one of the great thrills of my life. He was carrying a snake-bite kit, and had a friend inject him with antivenom; the bite hospitalized him for a week. Haast died June 15, 2011 at age 100. When our son was very small, he was afraid of snakes. As I was sitting there I heard a big CHOMP and turned around to see one huge animal falling back into the pitmissed me by about a foothorseshoes and hand-grenadeseh? It also had a pit with a 12-foot-long crocodile called "Cookie" that weighed, literally, a ton. But I must say he had a good sense of humor too. He died of natural. I have watched tv programs about him on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel. The crane lifted the 35-foot stucco cobra Saturday. I recall Carlita as being a very exotic woman with her eyes made up just like snake's eyes! Mr. Haast fished it out with a long pole after the big croc took a bite of it. That might have occurred, since some recent field guides I have examined do not include haasti. local news and culture. Others joined Haast. https://t.co/suskABi6UPhttps://t.co/AfEdaZei5G. There were eyewitnesses here who certainly saw the child taken under the water, Sheriff Demings said. In 1946 Haast decided he had enough money saved to start his snake farm. When I was a child in the 1950's, Mama made us stay in the house. I thought that was pretty cool back then, and still do. But the reptile managed to crawl away into a moat in the 50foot square pit, dragging the child with him. He was a great neighborhhod Dad, and I will always remember the fun we had with he, his wife and his children. Sheriff Demings confirmed there was a sign near the water warning people not to swim. Luckily I caught myself in time to stop myself from falling in. It took the 1,800pound reptile an hour to die. Haast killed the croc the next day. 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! Eventually Bill charmed that snake and on one of its downstrikes quicker than the snake could react Bill had it behind the head and then as a finale milked a big load of venom. Hanley "Doc" Harding, Aurora Protection Specialists. I have Ophidiophobia (not herpetophobia the fear of reptiles) a true fear of snakes. 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. Friday, his wife Nancy put his lifetime tally at 172. An estimated 1,000 people every year are killed in crocodile attacks, many more than by sharks. Two swimmers taking an early morning dip in a Florida canal have earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first humans in the United States to be bitten by an American crocodile . "He's like an icon to people that know him," Cruz said. 76. How did he get them through Customs? The animal was of no harm to anyone other than the fool who would allow his self to fall in. Even though this article is of the Snakeman as we called him I want to comment a special person. I was a nurse in the ICU at Variety Children's Hospital on at least three of Haast's admissions after snake bites. My Parents said we know Mr. Haast would you like to see his snake farm. 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. It was a rattle snake. 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. Like I said, we were always grabbing any snakes we came across, and one day finally got a Moccasin. On March 15, 2009, 11-year-old Briony Goodsell was killed by a crocodile when swimming with friends at Lambell's Lagoon near Humpty Doo in Northern Territory. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. We took 3-4 water snakes there that closely resembled the deadly Water Moccasin, only to be turned away penniless. I was fascinated watching them put Mr Haast's feeding tube down and feed the snake. A 6-year-old boy fell into a crocodile pit and was killed. 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. Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahaler said everyone at the resort was devastated by what happened and Disney was helping the family. Luckily though, I see from visiting one of the links that there is an attraction to view snake milking in St. While he was extracting venom from a small cobra, he was struck on the thumb and calmly told his wife that he was going to lie down for awhile. Demings said there had been no other recent reports of similar alligator attacks on the lake. When walking down a hallway, I passed an open door. Five alligators have already been caught in the lagoon and euthanised for analysis. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shoot and kill the 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe, Explosive end to case thats rocked America. Haast's hands suffered venom-caused tissue damage, culminating in the loss of a finger following a bite from a Malayan pit viper in 2003. "He'd put on a show just to supplement the research for the while," she said. I would see him periodically. Ms Popp, who is visiting the resort, said the search party was growing by the minute. I remember him as a very genuine, nice man. 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. Mr. Hasst brought out a huge 16 foot long King Cobra and kept it controlled on the lawn in front of us. We had a large clump of banana trees in our back yard, & she had called Mr. Haast to tell him that there was a coral snake down in the undergrowth of it, & could he please come & remove it? A krait anti-venom was shipped from India, but when it arrived after a 48-hour flight, he refused to accept it. 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. Four years ago, I got bit by a Malaysian pit viper, and that was the end of my right . I always told people I'd live past 100, and I still feel I will. He suffered 17 bites that nearly killed him, one put him in an iron lung for three days, his system paralyzed. It was not that far from us and yet we were not fearful. I am so glad to have found this site. ", Twitter accolades came in from across the globe. "I am not going to stay here, because just as they protect those animals, they are capable of leaving the river to attack more people and the truth is that it is scary that something like this will happen again. 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. A 911 call was received at 9.16pm local time. He was bitten for the first time at summer camp a year later, when he tried to capture a small timber rattlesnake. I'm surprised to hear the stories about the cobra being damaged enroute to SMSH. 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. 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 Serpentarium opened at the end of 1947, still not completed. Many times Haast donated his blood to be used in treating snake-bite victims when a suitable anti-venom was not available. National television shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Johnny Carson invited him or featured him during visits to Miami. There was something unique and special about living old Miami, Its individuals like Bill and The Serpentarium that paved Miami's history in a way like no other place in the world. 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. 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 landed a job with Miami-based Pan American Airways. . We had an African Ball Python that had stopped eating, and I remember bringing it with my father to have it fed. Haast went to the pit with a pistol the very next day and shot the croc. 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! 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. Two-year-old Lane Thomas Graves had been playing in . 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. It's a shame good things must always come to an end, isn't it? I worked at the Serpentarium for roughly a year, about two years before it closed. Haast still grows somber when retelling the story: It was a Sunday. In October, a man fought a crocodile with a knife while it held his friend's head in its jaws. 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. On another visit I was told that the big lump in the python I was looking at was the suckling pig it had swallowed whole and was digesting, I, was surprised to find myself on the ground with ammonia being waved under my nose! I don't know. 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. In his case, he claims the venom has helped him live a long and healthy life -- with the exception of his snakebitten hands. I'd rather go back in the ocean than back to the Serpentarium! 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. The last snake I had was a 12' burmese python that I owned a few years ago. Lots of people like me. He gathered 400 cobras and took his findings to a University of Miami researcher. RESEARCH WAS GOAL For Haast, the bites, the snakes and the Serpentarium were only a means to an end. Addressed to Guest: How dare you ever get on a site, and reproach a man for his dispair over the loss of an innocent 6 year old boy. The incident left Bill Haast badly shaken. After the United States entered World War II, Haast served as a flight engineer on Pan Am airliners flying under contract to the United States Army Air Corps. Tatiana Daz, regional director of the Limn Red Cross, has tried to explain the attack. It was July, 1972, and my family was making our first visit to the Serpentarium. Nya used to take us after hours to the Serpentariumm to watch her Dad and his workers feed the animals. Haast's death-defying act didn't disappoint. God bless Mr. Haas, and all the good he has done, on top of the lives he has saved through his bravery and research. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. I remember in 3rd grade, back in 1960, one of my classmates dropped her purse into the crocodile pit. I recall the incident where the child died -- it was very tragic and Mr. Haast clearly felt terrible about it. He is truely an extraordinary man. Alexander DeMella, who was watching the events unfold from his Disney balcony, told news.com.au that resort staff and authorities had said no one is allowed on the beaches at this time. The event left Haast shaken and the next day, he shot the 1800-pound crocodile nine times. It's a shame that everything is gone now. Most of the family agreed it was better than any other stops we made, including the newly opened Disney World. My granddaddy was Robert Kundtz, horticulurist. That photo is one of my favorite collectables. Bill Haast and a cobra at the Miami Serpentarium SW 128th Street and South Dixie Highway, Dade County, Florida Thank you to Alvin Lederer for contributing this old image. I remember it sliding around my leg and shaking my leg till it feel off. The couple moved back to New Jersey, where Haast studied aviation mechanics, and was certified after four years. Photo: Orange County Sheriff's Office. I'm sorry I can never take my grandchildren there. I told my mother how I'd really like to get an Indigo and she kind of shrugged it off. great childhood memories spent there with my family , i remember getting goose bumps when we would see the cobra statue.