RFK Jr. snatches snakes in viral video, the latest of his many animal encounters

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A video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrangling two snakes bare-handed captured the internet’s fascination Tuesday, the latest animal encounter the U.S. health secretary has shared publicly that has sparked intrigue and in some cases concern.

Kennedy shared the clip of himself grabbing the tails of the non-venomous black racer snakes on his personal social media accounts, noting in the caption that he was removing them from the patio of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

An avid outdoorsman, Kennedy has posted numerous photos and videos over the years of himself interacting with wild animals. He's also shared tales of such interactions, including admitting once planting a bear carcass in New York's Central Park as a prank.

Internet users reacted with joy, incredulity and outcry at Kennedy's latest clip, which shows the snakes biting in the direction of his fingers as Oz asks questions about the snakes. Kennedy’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines, can be heard saying “Why?” and telling her husband to let them go.

Herpetologists said the species in the clip is largely harmless to humans, even if it bites. But they said people should be mindful of the stress that handling snakes can put on the creatures, and to avoid grabbing them by the tails as Kennedy does in the video, because it can cause injuries to their spines.

“That is not how I would handle the snakes, but I’m a trained professional,” said Bonnie Keller, a herpetologist and former board member of the Virginia Herpetological Society.

Sean McKnight, director of programs at the nonprofit Rattlesnake Conservancy, said he encourages people to minimize the duration that they’re handling any kind of wildlife, because they are “potentially stressing out the animals more than needed.”

Earlier this month, Kennedy posted a snapshot of himself holding a bird in his enclosed hand in what he wrote was the rescue of a starling at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.

In 2024, while running for president, he posted a video of himself using a small net and a trowel to capture a rattlesnake in his California driveway. In that video, he cautiously secures the venomous snake in his bare hands and displays its fangs to the camera. McKnight said he doesn’t advise anybody to handle rattlesnakes like that, because there’s no way to restrain them safely with your hands.

Also in 2024, Kennedy generated 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 roadkill his “whole life” and once had a “freezer full of it” at home. His campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear, now a top adviser at the nation's health department, said roadkill was how Kennedy, a longtime falconer, fed his birds.