Funny thing is, he had different ideas about that. "Not to mention pretty damn smart. I don't remember how long he was but I DO remember how strong he was. 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 and dragged him to his death in a small lagoon. In the summer of 1972 I was bitten by a pygmy rattle snake in the middle of a subdivision in south Miami. More animals than anyone I ever knew, and of every variety. He received his first cobra bite less than a year after he started his immunization program. I lived just across the road from Bill's place in 1959 thru 1961 and went. His next bite, later the same year, came from a four-foot copperhead. In 1982 when I was twelve I moved from England to Hollywood, Fl with my family. the shows were fantastic , there was so much to explore everything was clean and the whole haast family were always charming.my family became amateur experts on exotic snakes and have read and watched everything we could over the years.but nothing ever compared to mr. haast. 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 . According to eyewitnesses, the toddlers mother, Ms Graves, was playing with him at the time and also dived into the water. Sad to say, a passerby noticed that the snake was poisonous and killed it before we could take it to the Serpentarium to get paid for all our efforts. ", Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. They paid my mother something like $10 or more for the snake. Several people on social media said the child was on the beach at the time watching a movie. In my Junior high days, I was a snake enthusiast. When I opened the box I saw my new pet, a 6 foot beautiful Indigo Snake. I remember it sliding around my leg and shaking my leg till it feel off. ''I would hide them in my tool box,'' he said. After many years of being a Bill Haast fan, I was thrilled to be there. Sheriff Demings said a recovery operation was under way to find the childs body in the lagoon and bring some closure to this family. After a 15-hour search, the attack was certainly not survivable at this point, Sheriff Demings said. I contacted him while the car was in shop and $2200.00 later it was mine. He introduced himself as Col. Spencer, I introduced myself as "I'm Mark and could my brother Dick come too?" When we got home, she handed me a small travel bag that she had carried with her on board the airplane. God bless Mr. Haas, and all the good he has done, on top of the lives he has saved through his bravery and research. "When he closed his doors there was a lapse and there were some fatalities related to exotic snake bites," said Chuck Seigert, of the Miami unit. Thanks for jogging my memory. Having said all that, thank you Mr. Haas for all your wonderful work with snakes. With 43 types of antivenin, a diverse enough supply to treat 90 percent of all bites, the unit's antivenin bank supplies the U.S. military and hospitals around the nation -- sometimes the world. I used to take the snakes I would find to a lady named Alma Bishop, who had a little shop in the Flamingo Bar. "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 remember reading Bill Haast book Cobras in My Garden, one of the most interesting books I have ever read. 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. Haast was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1910. I don't remember which one was the infamous "Cookie". 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. 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. I think that this Dr., was loved by thousands of Miamians, because of him lives are save. 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. My brother was always over there buying, trading snakes. The original cobra was a metal structure that was twisted into oblivion by a rare tornado in the late 50's or early 60's. 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. Haast could not make the ceremony, so part of the ceremony came to him. There's a picture of me and an indigo snake, probably nearly as long as I was tall. It remains in my library to this day. National television shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Johnny Carson invited him or featured him during visits to Miami. I was inspired by him because as kids we used to go all through the Evergaldes looking for snakes to catch. I recall going with my brother to the airport to pick her up upon her arrival. killed David Mark Wasson of West Palm Beach, Fla. The animal was of no harm to anyone other than the fool who would allow his self to fall in. How lucky were we that we had this place? Although Haast did not have antivenin for that snake, he knew a collector who did and who provided the 15 vials of antivenin that saved the victim's life. Then years later I lived in Punta Gorda on Washington Loop, when Bill Haast moved there. Shaman Killed by Crocodile Horror Stories 812K subscribers Subscribe 27K Save 741K views 3 years ago Notice Age-restricted video (based on Community Guidelines) Almost yours: 2 weeks, on us. 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. 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. Bill Haast, the crocodile's owner, was not talking to reporters. I graduated from there in 1979. But he felt he couldn't continue to feed the crocodile and display him under these conditions.. He was born in 1910 in Paterson, N.J., to German-American parents -- his father was a mechanic, his mom a housewife. Thanks for putting it up! 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. I think one of the two men was Mr. Haast himself. [9] In an August 2008 Florida Trend interview, he stated, "Aging is hard. Thanks for the wonderful memories and great work you have done. The boy and his father, David Wasson, 42, were throwing grapes at the crocodile, hoping to see it move, when the boy slipped off a retaining wall on which he had been sitting and fell into the crocodile pit. 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. 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. As a kid, it was a thrill to see the man himself up close. I first heard of Bill Haast around 1955, when reading a "man's magazine" (as they were called back then, probably Argosy. Responders at Disney World searching for boy who was dragged into a lagoon by an alligator. We visited the Serpentarium and it was an amazing experience that I remember vividly to this day. I got excited thinking it was a new toy. When I was a child in the 1950's, Mama made us stay in the house. REMAINS of a fourteen-year-old boy have been pulled from inside a crocodile's belly after he was eaten alive. I then got a "thank you". The boy was dragged into the water by an alligator at 9pm Tuesday, local time, while wading in about a foot of water during a movie night at Disneys Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Thanks for the memories, as Bob Hope would say. Every so often the evening news would announce "Bill Haast had been bitten by a poisonous snake AGAIN." The boy's family never sued, accepting only the maximum insurance payment, Haast said. The incident comes after a four-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo last month. He was rushed to see a doctor, but quickly recovered without further treatment. That applies to the many other wildlife that existed back then. THAT WAS THE MOST MEMORIBLE PART OF THAT VACATION. 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 . It's a shame that everything is gone now. I worked at the Serpentarium for roughly a year, about two years before it closed. It was July, 1972, and my family was making our first visit to the Serpentarium. When I was young I was always interested in snakes. I visited the Serpentarium in the late 70s on a trip down to Key West. Crowds cheered as he collected venom from the snakes in dramatic displays. For inspiration and advice, he leaned on Haast. Nonetheless, the boy, who was battered and submerged, was killed. ''I miss the excitement of the Serpentarium,'' Haast said. boy killed by crocodile at miami serpentarium. joe pylandgrew up at sunniland park two blocks from the serpentarium.Remember it well..Billy..the grandson ran over my arm in 1962 with his bike..breaking it and I missed the 1st 6 weeks of Khoury League.Remember Haast tamping alsoThis man was incredidle and brave. Is bitten by dozens of water moccasins and dies. 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. Thank you for the bio of this incredible man. The boy's body has still not been found, and emergency services have run into difficulty with their search in recent days due to heavy rain. 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. I sure do remember Mr. Haast as I bought the 1969 GT500 Shelby that he once owned. 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. "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. I was a nurse in the ICU at Variety Children's Hospital on at least three of Haast's admissions after snake bites. Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahaler said everyone at the resort was devastated by what happened and Disney was helping the family. "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.". They moved to Florida so that Haast could pursue his dream of opening a "snake farm". The victim, identified as Stambuli Bamusi, along with his friends, had gone . Haast still grows somber when retelling the story: It was a Sunday. His dream of creating a snake sanctuary grew nearer. A rare survivor, he declared himself doing "very well, anxious to get back to work.". Those were great times and i'll never forget them! Julio. A 6-year-old boy fell into a crocodile pit and was killed. 90. "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. Bill Haast's daughter was in my 4th grade class and we went to the Serpentarium for a field trip. Two men came to our house, & they had a hook on the end of a pole, & a cloth bag, & they soon had the brightly colored but deadly snake in tow. 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. He would free the snakes on a table in front of him, then catch the snakes bare-handed, and force them to eject their venom into glass vials with a rubber membrane stretched across the top. The 35' cobra ended up on the roof (south side) of South Miami Senior High-my old high school-where it served proudly for many years. I was 11 in 1972 when my folks agreed to stop at the Serpentarium when our family of seven drove down from Massachusetts to Key West for February school vacation. I remember one time that one got the better of him and bit him in the neck. I told my mother how I'd really like to get an Indigo and she kind of shrugged it off. Sheppard gave injections to patients with MS. His clinic became famous and was featured on CBS's 60 Minutes. Haast finally sold the 5.2-acre lot, now in Pinecrest, for $3.2 million and headed to Utah for more snake research. He agreed to chat only by telephone with a Miami Herald reporter. independent local journalism in Miami. 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!
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