Saturday, June 25, 2011

Miami Serpentarian



Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Haast, Cobra venom extraction and force-feeding climax each tour at the Serpentarium, sole producers of exotic venoms in the New World.

6 comments:

Bob Cline said...

Since you posted about Jungle Larry's just above this, many of your followers might not know that Larry served his country milking snakes during WWII.
Bob

Wade G. Burck said...

Bob,
That is correct, and appropriate to mention. Thank you.

Wade

Wade G. Burck said...

Addendum to Bob,
Was Walt Galloway at JL's when you were there? I wonder what became of him, or where he went when he left JL's. He reminded me of Barney Fife in emergency situations. LOL

Wade

Anonymous said...

I have such fond childhood memories of the Miami Seaquarium and the Serpentarium. Someone at the Serpentarium gave me the skin of a king cobra, which I kept for years. I had it in a breadbag in a cigar box, and I used to take it out all the time just to look at it, but it started to stink. The snake was huge and the man who gave me the skin was handling the snake. Sincerely Paul

Vincent said...

Bill Haast recently past away June 15th 2011 at ripe old age of 100, This guy was a literal life saver there are alot of snake bite victims alive today who wouldn't be here without his work.

Vincent/San Diego

Wade G. Burck said...

Vincent,
I was not aware of the recent passing of Dr. Haast. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. How this great man lived to be 100, I'll never know. His body had been ravaged by the many bites and antivenoms that had been administered. He also oftentimes used himself as a "guinea pig" before risking a serum on someone else.
A truly fascinating man who was lucky enough to spend his life doing what he loved best.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/obituaries/mh-obit-snakeman-haast-20110617,0,5601724.story

Wade