Comments on: Serpentarium’s Hasst, 100, Has Died

By: Opalman

Opalman — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:24:30 +0000

At one time I had an extensive collection of snakes (80 species-12 -14 of them very “hot” snakes.) Bill was a friend of mine and his Serpentarium is in a hard to find area of Punta Gorda, only 9 or so miles from me. He was a very nice man. I hadn’t talked to him in several years, I didn’t even know of his illness, (if he had one). For his age he was undoubtedly the healthiest person I’ve ever known. Several years ago he related the effects of a Sri Lankan krait:(Bungarus fasciatus) envenomation to me as a “not altogether unpleasant” almost psychedelic experience. (to me it sounded like a mescaline trip) As many know; (and so stated above) he regularly self-administered injected doses of a specific venom mixture cocktail which over the years caused his immune system to develop polyvalent immunity to a wide variety of elipids. Of the genera Crotalus he was extremely careful.

Bill: you were a terrific guy, many will miss ya.

By: TimmyRyan65

TimmyRyan65 — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:22:59 +0000

Good story!! This article reminds me of that early 70′s movie Sssssss! Starring Strother Martin and a very young Dirk Benedict. It was about a guy (Strother) much like the one in this article who ejected himself with venom, ran a snake park and did venom experiments. He injects his assistant (Dirk) with a secret serum that transforms him into a super intelligent cobra. As lame as this plot sounds it was a very creepy movie. I just bought a copy of it as part of a 4pack for only $5. It still surprisingly holds up!

By: Redrose999

Redrose999 — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:56:28 +0000

Bill Haast was an amazing man. His work with snakes was invaluable to venom research. I am sorry to hear he’s gone. But he lived to a ripe old age of 100! What an achievement!

By: flame821

flame821 — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 04:53:41 +0000

He might have been onto something. Hemotoxins thin the blood, its the same principle behind the use of a daily aspirin. Never catch me taking his route though.

I like snakes but I’m not too keen on poison, however I understand his reasonings seeing as how he risked being bitten on a daily basis.

Tip of the hat to a pioneer in anti-venom research, may he rest in peace.