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Add snakes to the list of creatures Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has wrangled.Kennedy, in a now-viral video he posted May 26 on X, is seen grabbing and picking up two of the creatures at the home of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.Much like his previous encounters with wildlife, the health secretary took it upon himself to handle the situation − with his bare hands, of course, much to his wife, Cheryl Hines', apparent chagrin."Honey, honey! Why? Why?" Hines can be heard asking as Kennedy, dressed in full business professional attire, bends over to grab at the black reptiles. As the snakes leap, jump and slither in a bid to escape, Kennedy manages to grab one up in each hand, narrowly dodging their attempts to grab a mouthful of his skin.As he proudly dangles them in the air for the camera, one manages to land a successful blow to Kennedy's hand. While Hines continues to fret off-camera, Oz and Kennedy laugh it off, even as they try to identify the snakes' species and, therefore, whether the bite is something to worry about."Are they biting?" asks Oz."Yes," laughs Kennedy, holding up his injured hand.While Hines expressed concern that the snakes could be venomous water moccasins, Kennedy ultimately brushed off her worries as the reptiles continued to thrash and buck in his hands."Honey, please, let them go! Bobby, please!" she can be heard saying as Kennedy beckons Oz over to "take a picture" with the creatures."Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz's patio," Kennedy wrote in the caption of his post, identifying the species of the snakes.Was the snake that bit RFK Jr. venomous?Luckily for Kennedy, the southern black racer is a common, non-venomous species often found in the Southeastern United States. While potentially unpleasant, their bites do not pose a risk to humans. Your chances of being bitten in the first place are low, according to the Florida Museum, unless you take it upon yourself to become a bare-handed snake wrangler."North American racers are not dangerous to people or pets, but they will readily bite to defend themselves," said the museum. "Racers are not aggressive and avoid direct contact with people and pets. Virtually all bites occur when the snakes are intentionally molested."Still, the museum warns that the animals should be left alone, especially if you are unsure about the species, as they are not known to attack unless cornered.Do not try to interact with, remove or kill a snake without consulting a professional. In many cases, there is no need to disturb them at all. If you are bitten, remove any jewelry that could restrict circulation. If swelling occurs, keep the bitten limb below heart level and consult with a doctor.If you are bitten by a venomous snake or one whose identity you are unsure of, prompt treatment with anti-venom is vital. Seek immediate attention at the nearest hospital or medical facility.'I’ve been picking up roadkill my whole life': Kennedy's history with animalsFrom a freezer filled with roadkill to at-home biology "experiments," it's no surprise that Kennedy's previously publicized wildlife escapades regularly draw attention to his animal-related posts. Earlier in May, for example, a photo on Instagram showing Kennedy "rescuing" a bird at Dulles airport drew a flood of jokes about him eating the starling, with some saying it looked like he was holding the bird "like an ice cream cone."The health secretary's alleged encounter with a whale carcass is among the more famous of his wildlife stories. Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, Kennedy's oldest child, told Town & Country in a 2012 interview that her dad took a chainsaw to the giant animal's head while on family vacation in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.Kick Kennedy, who was 6 during the trip, recalled her father rushing to the beach after word spread that a dead whale had washed ashore. After decapitating the body, Kennedy tied the head to the top of the family's minivan with a bungee cord, making for a less-than-pleasant five-hour drive back home to Mount Kisco, New York, according to her recollection."Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet," Kick Kennedy told the magazine. "We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us."The National Marine Fisheries Service told the Associated Press in 2024 that it was looking into the incident, which may have violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but the investigation was eventually dropped.Kennedy's apparent penchant for roadkill has crept into other headlines over the years, with one such story raising eyebrows as recently as April amid the release of the biography "RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise." In the book, journalist Isabel Vincent detailed a 2001 entry from Kennedy's private journal in which he described pulling over to cut the genitals off of a dead raccoon – while his children waited in the car."I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road-killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be," said the entry. Vincent told People Magazine that Kennedy intended to "study" the body part."I’ve been picking up roadkill my whole life. I have a freezer full of it," Kennedy told reporters during his 2024 presidential bid, this time in response to reporting from The New Yorker about the man picking up a dead bear cub by the side of a road.The then-presidential candidate also told comedian Roseanne Barr during an August 2024 conversation that he saw a car hit and kill the bear while on a 2014 hiking trip in upstate New York. He put the corpse in his car with plans to skin it and "put the meat in (his) refrigerator." He then drove around with it all day, including visiting a steakhouse in Brooklyn, before dumping the body in Central Park when he realized he had to catch a flight."We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it," he told Barr of his plans to stage the bear's body as if it had been hit by a bicycle in the park. The six-month-old cub's unexplained presence in New York's largest urban green space gave rise to a 10-year mystery.Also an experienced falconer, Kennedy is known for keeping and training birds of prey. This hobby went a little too far in the eyes of at least one family member, cousin Caroline Kennedy, who wrote a letter to senators during Kennedy's confirmation hearing to become health secretary, calling him a "predator."She alleged an oft-occurring "perverse scene of despair and violence" during which Kennedy "enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks."And, of course, there was that parasitic worm that "got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died," Kennedy told the New York Times in 2025, but whether that qualifies as an animal welfare issue is up for debate.
