video for Robert F. kennedy jr. A brawl between two naked snakes captured the Internet’s attention on Tuesday, the latest animal encounter the US health secretary has publicly shared that has generated significant interest. Stir up intrigue And in Some cases matter.
Kennedy participated in section of himself holding the tails of non-venomous black snakes on his personal social media accounts, noting in the caption that he was removing them from the yard of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Kennedy, an avid outdoorsman, has posted numerous photos and videos over the years interacting with wild animals. He has also shared tales of such interactions, including once admitting to planting a bear carcass in New York’s Central Park as a joke.
Netizens reacted with joy, skepticism and anger to Kennedy’s latest clip, which shows snakes biting towards his fingers while Oz asks questions about snakes. Kennedy’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines, can be heard saying, “Why?” She asks her husband to let them go.
Herpetologists said the species in the clip is largely harmless to humans, even if they bite. But they said people should be aware of the stress that handling snakes can put on the creatures, and avoid grabbing them by the tails as Kennedy does in the video, because it can cause spinal injuries.
“This is not how I handle snakes, but I am a trained professional,” said Bonnie Keller, a herpetologist and former board member of the Virginia Herpetological and Amphibian Society.
Sean McKnight, program director at the nonprofit Rattlesnake Conservancy, said he encourages people to reduce the amount of time they interact with any type of wildlife, because they “potentially stress the animals too much.”
Earlier this month, Kennedy posted a photo of himself holding a bird in his closed hand in what he wrote was a starling rescue at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.
In 2024, while running for president, he posted a video of himself using a small net and a shovel to capture a rattlesnake at his home in California. In this video, he carefully secures the venomous snake with his bare hands and displays his fangs to the camera. McKnight said he doesn’t advise anyone to handle rattlesnakes this way, because there’s no way to safely restrain them with your hands.
Also in 2024, Kennedy drew criticism when he admitted to taking a bear carcass from the side of the road and placing it in Central Park as a prank in 2014. He said at the time that he had been picking up road kills “all his life” and had a “freezer full of them” at home at one time. Roadkill is how Kennedy, a longtime falconer, feeds his birds, said campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Speier, now a senior adviser to the nation’s health department.