Ross Allen (herpetologist)

Ensil Ross Allen, called Ross, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1908 and attended local schools. He moved as a teenager with his family to Florida. As a young man, Allen made a hobby of capturing turtles, snakes and other reptiles near his home in central Florida. He continued his work and study of them and became noted as an expert herpetologist.

Ross Allen delivering a wildlife demonstration with snakes during Boy Scout Camporee in Silver Springs in 1973.

In November 1929, Allen founded the Reptile Institute at the tourist attraction of Silver Springs, Florida.[3][4] He developed it into a 10-acre center for research, as well as of entertainment, staging reptile demonstrations, including alligator wrestling and rattlesnake milking. His larger goal was education of the public about reptiles.[5]

The Institute has been recognized for his research on native Floridian reptiles. He studied and developed anti-venom solutions, including dried powders.[6] This was particularly important during World War II, when he helped procure anti-venom to protect US troops.[5] Allen often collected specimens for the Institute himself, often with the help of close friend Newton ("Newt"), a large Bengal tiger, several species of monkey and ape, lemurs, exotic birds and hundreds of free-roaming peacocks, including several albinos. Along with the Ross Allen Reptile Institute, there were several other shops and stores, including the famous striped awning "beach cabanas" which could be rented while swimming at the Springs, and the Bath House, which sold Esther Williams bathing suits among other things and was visited by Ms. Williams several times, run by Bobbe Arnst, who was Johnny Weismueller's ("Tarzan") first wife. Other nearby attractions were the Prince of Peace exhibit, a series of dioramas depicting the life of Jesus and Tommy Bartlett's Deer Ranch, where you could interact with several species of deer.

Allen was the founder and first president of the International Crocodile Society.[2] Because of his expertise in handling the animals, Allen was featured in numerous film shorts and newsreel clips, including the Ted Husing-narrated Catching Trouble (1936), which gained later notoriety from its inclusion in a 1991 episode of the television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000.[7] He also served as stuntman and reptile handler on several movies that were filmed in Silver Springs, including Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939) and The Yearling (1946).[8] Several television shows were also filmed at Silver Springs, most notably Sea Hunt and I Spy.

Allen sold the Institute to ABC-Paramount in 1962, but continued as director until early 1975.[9] The Silver Springs Reptile Institute (more commonly known as the Ross Allen Reptile Institute) was a site for research as well as exhibits. Allen developed many snake anti-venoms, including dried anti-venom. He also imported venoms for medical and biochemical purposes.[9] Allen was also very active in teaching survival techniques to Boy Scouts, and often led expeditions into the forests to teach them about native animals and plants.

On a personal note, Allen was bitten so severely on several occasions in the milking of his rattlesnakes, that he developed his own anti-venom over time. The thumb on Allen's left hand was severely deformed because of the snake bites. Because of this, he often hid his left hand in photos. He kept graphic photographs of the healing of his own hand on display at the institute as a warning to children and adults about the severity of venomous snake bites.

He worked at Silver Springs for a total of 46 years, leaving in 1975. That year he began work on a new attraction that was to be called Alligator Town, U.S.A. After his death in 1981, however, the project was abandoned.[10]

Ross and his first wife Virginia had children named John, Robert, Tom and Betty. Later Allen married Celeste, who sometimes joined him in collecting expeditions, having learned how to handle snakes. Ross's fourth wife, Jeanette, bore him three sons, Kenneth, Craig, and Sidney.

• 2000, Cypress Island at Silver Springs was renamed Ross Allen Island in his honor. For environmental stewardship, after Silver Springs became a state park the island exhibit was removed and replaced with a boardwalk through a natural swamp in his honor. Displays at Silver Springs and The Silver River Museum have displays telling the story of Ross Allen's life and accomplishments.

• Florida Water Snakes (1941)
• Fishes of Silver Springs, Florida (1946)
• Keep Them Alive (1960)
• How to Keep Snakes in Captivity (1971)

• Allen, Doug. Gamblers with Fate. New York: R.M. McBride & Co., 1945.
• Congdon, Kristin G. Uncle Monday and Other Florida Tales. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001.
• Hollis, Tim. Glass Bottom Boats & Mermaid Tails: Florida's Tourist Springs. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006.
• Hylander, Clarence J. (1951). Adventures with Reptiles, the Story of Ross Allen. New York: Julian Messner. OCLC 383653., text available online with photos
• Allen, Robert Ross added personal updates.

• Ross Allen at IMDb