08-01-2011 Livestock "killer" caught in Miami......

[Wise Old Owl]

I wasn't sure if I should put this here or down in the Bizarre sub-forum.

This is what we have as "animal nusances" down here:

Livestock-killing, 11-foot Burmese python nabbed in Miami-Dade

By Linda Trischitta, Sun Sentinel

6:34 p.m. EDT, August 1, 2011
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY—
The 911 dispatcher called Venom 1 with a doozie on Friday afternoon: a snake's fat tail, possibly 12-inches in diameter, was wiggling beneath a shipping container on the property of a Homestead homeowner.

But Lt. Scott Mullin, of Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue's Venom Response Bureau, was not near the homeowner's farm and asked Miami-Dade firefighters from Station 60 to handle the call until he could get there.

The serpent was the suspected predator after several of the caller's chickens, goats and pet cats disappeared from the farm in the 22000 block of Southwest 264th Street, west of Krome Avenue near the Everglades


**more at link**

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/fl-python-seized-20110801,0,440454.story

There video at the link is short - and if you're not of the squeamish type you can watch them pull this thing out! She certainly was a big girl and evidently has been eating quite well lately.

 

[Jaxson]

I am used to lil' ole rattlers and bull snakes. If I saw one of those I would have heart attack!

 

[Peliman]

Clicked an additional link to this story and thought I'd share. I used to visit the serpentarium at least once a year while I lived in Fla. and was always fascinated by this man and his work.

Bill Haast, a Man Charmed by Snakes, Dies at 100

some snips from the story

"Bill Haast figured he had handled more than three million poisonous snakes over the years, and he had the hands to prove it.

Mr. Haast was bitten at least 173 times by poisonous snakes, about 20 times almost fatally.

A secret of his success was the immunity he had built up by injecting himself every day for more than 60 years with a mix of venoms from 32 snake species. He suspected the inoculations might have explained his extraordinarily good health, but he was reluctant to make that claim, he said, until he reached 100."

Me - This guy is a legend in old Florida history and this story is worth a read. God speed Bill...and thanks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18haast.html

 

[Wise Old Owl]

Clicked an additional link to this story and thought I'd share. I used to visit the serpentarium at least once a year while I lived in Fla. and was always fascinated by this man and his work.

Bill Haast, a Man Charmed by Snakes, Dies at 100

some snips from the story

"Bill Haast figured he had handled more than three million poisonous snakes over the years, and he had the hands to prove it.

Mr. Haast was bitten at least 173 times by poisonous snakes, about 20 times almost fatally.

A secret of his success was the immunity he had built up by injecting himself every day for more than 60 years with a mix of venoms from 32 snake species. He suspected the inoculations might have explained his extraordinarily good health, but he was reluctant to make that claim, he said, until he reached 100."

Me - This guy is a legend in old Florida history and this story is worth a read. God speed Bill...and thanks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/18haast.html

Ah yes, the old Serpentarium..................I remember it well.

First, it was THE place where my snake-phobia began! When I was 6, the family went for the day. You used to walk "through" a HUGE tree canopy to get to the front entrance. Those trees were literally teaming with snakes (all non-venomous). Well, as I was walking through, one FELL on me. I had a coniption fit! Then, during the show, I was one of the "cute lil kids" they picked from the audience to "wrap" a HUGE snake around. My dad had to physically push me out there.

From that day on - I have this absolute FEAR of snakes. Snake don't have to do nothing, I will kill myself gettin' outta his way!!!!!!!

Yea, thankx Dr. Hasst. :floorlaugh:


Oh and a PS - when they finally decided to re-develop the land that the Serpentarium was on (it had been closed for many years), while they were digging (or dredging) out the old alligator pit, they found many old, rare coins that had been thrown in there for luck over the years. I remember laughing when I heard on the news that production had been stopped to excavate that old alligator pit. :floorlaugh:

Only in South FloriDUH......................

 

[Peliman]

Ah yes, the old Serpentarium..................I remember it well.

First, it was THE place where my snake-phobia began! When I was 6, the family went for the day. You used to walk "through" a HUGE tree canopy to get to the front entrance. Those trees were literally teaming with snakes (all non-venomous). Well, as I was walking through, one FELL on me. I had a coniption fit! Then, during the show, I was one of the "cute lil kids" they picked from the audience to "wrap" a HUGE snake around. My dad had to physically push me out there.

From that day on - I have this absolute FEAR of snakes. Snake don't have to do nothing, I will kill myself gettin' outta his way!!!!!!!

Yea, thankx Dr. Hasst. :floorlaugh:

That's pretty funny WOO :lol: I used to hang with an archiologist and his sons. We would travel as far as WPB preserving Indian burial sites and once an old spanish anchor chain. We caught snakes to sell to Wild Cargo who sold them to universities for study. I know, I'm giving myself away a bit.

a PS - when they finally decided to re-develop the land that the Serpentarium was on (it had been closed for many years), while they were digging (or dredging) out the old alligator pit, they found many old, rare coins that had been thrown in there for luck over the years. I remember laughing when I heard on the news that production had been stopped to excavate that old alligator pit. :floorlaugh:

Only in South FloriDUH......................

Well hey, who's going to jump into the alligator pit to get those coins out?lol
That one huge alligator once escaped and bit the corner of a sports car in the parking lot.

The only time I got a few butterflies in my stomach at the serpentarium was looking over into the moccasin pit and seeing all those moccasins. Had to be hundreds of em. Things the public will probably never see again.

 

[Wise Old Owl]

That's pretty funny WOO :lol: I used to hang with an archiologist and his sons. We would travel as far as WPB preserving Indian burial sites and once an old spanish anchor chain. We caught snakes to sell to Wild Cargo who sold them to universities for study. I know, I'm giving myself away a bit.




Well hey, who's going to jump into the alligator pit to get those coins out?lol
That one huge alligator once escaped and bit the corner of a sports car in the parking lot.

The only time I got a few butterflies in my stomach at the serpentarium was looking over into the moccasin pit and seeing all those moccasins. Had to be hundreds of em. Things the public will probably never see again.

I wanted to post this picture but its very well protected.

Go here:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&ei=pm84TqjACar50gGPzNyGBQ

The trees I were talking about are behind this as you walked in - remember?

And the caption underneath tells a little more history.

 

[Peliman]

I wanted to post this picture but its very well protected.

Go here:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&ei=pm84TqjACar50gGPzNyGBQ

The trees I were talking about are behind this as you walked in - remember?

And the caption underneath tells a little more history.

Heck yes I remember this WOO and thanks for the trip down memory lane. I saw this when I was a child but don't remember exactly when but I remember it was kinda spooky. I got lost in reading and looking at pics.