On Tuesday evening, Don Hazel, columnist and president of the Tennessee Bluebird Society and the Fairfield Glade Fly Fishing Club, presented a lecture over Zoom on the 32 different species
Reptiles Magazine
Robert Bowker served two years probation for trafficking timber rattlesnakes.
January 21, 2021
Timber rattlesnake. Photo by Dennis Riabchenko/Shutterstock
As one of his last acts as president, former President Donald J. Trump pardoned a man who was convicted of snake trafficking in the early 1990s. Robert Bowker was convicted of wildlife trafficking in 1993, after pleading guilty to trafficking 22 timber rattlesnakes (
Crotalus horridus), according to a report in the Sun Sentinel. Bowker served two years probation. The snakes ended up at the Miami Serpentarium, which at the time was run by William “Bill” Haast from 1947 to 1984. Haast was one of the most vocal proponents of snake venom research.
One of former President Donald Trump's pardons on Wednesday cited the name of a long-shuttered part of South Florida tourist lore the Miami Serpentarium.