The secretary of health and human services is known for his love of animals, be it exotic pets or highway roadkill.

RFK Jr. wrangles snakes on Dr. Oz’s patio as wife Cheryl Hines pleads him to ‘let it go’ in wild video

The secretary of health and human services is known for his love of animals, be it exotic pets or highway roadkill.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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May 26, 2026 1:44 p.m. ET

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Credit:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr./X (2)

- Robert F. Kennedy wrangled snakes on Dr. Oz's patio in a new video shared on social media.

- His wife, Cheryl Hines, is heard off camera asking him to be careful with the slithering reptiles.

- The Secretary of Health and Human Services is known for his love of animals, be it exotic pets or highway roadkill.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn't rattled by this snake encounter.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services shared a video of himself on social media wrangling 2 snakes on a sunny patio. "Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz's patio," RFK Jr. captioned the clip, referring to his wife Cheryl Hines's off-camera commentary.

The 49-second video shows RFK Jr. reach down in the corner of a sun-filled patio to grab two wriggling black racer snakes. "Honey, honey," Hines says off camera, asking, "Why?" He snatches the slithering reptiles with his bare hands, which intertwine with each other.

“They were having sex. So what were they?” a voice asks off camera as RFK Jr. holds them up proudly. "They're black snakes," he replies as Hines calls him "nuts." The snakes continue squirming in his grasp, and one bites him. "Honey, honey, let it go," Hines adds, "Oh my God. Bobby, please!”

* *contacted reps for Hines for a comment.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr in Minneapolis in May 2026.

David Berding/Getty

RFK Jr. is known for his fascination with animals, be it exotic pets or roadkill. Growing up on Hickory Hill, he was surrounded by animals. He also got a job working at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

"There were plenty of horses, many dogs, chickens, geese, goats. It was a menagerie... my brother Bobby collected reptiles. And actually the turtle was in the laundry room. The sea lion was in the swimming pool," RFK Jr.'s sister Kathleen Kennedy once said, per PBS.

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Per Isabel Vincent's book *RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise*, the Kennedy smuggled back a 16-pound leopard tortoise following a trip to Africa with his cousin Bobby Shriver and uncle Sargent Shriver, who was the director of the Peace Corps.

The creature, named Carruthers, lived at Hickory Hill for over 20 years.

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In a 2012 interview with *Town & Country*, RFK Jr.'s daughter Kick Kennedy recalled her father beheading a whale on the shores of Massachusetts' Squaw Island.

Kick claimed that after RFK Jr. heard about the dead whale washing up ashore, he used a chainsaw to cut its head off, and used a bungee cord to tie it on top of their minivan for the five-hour drive back to New York.

"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 recalled in the interview. "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."**

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines in Washington, D.C., in April 2026.

Paul Morigi/Getty

RFK Jr. wrote in a November 2001 diary entry about pulling over on a highway between Connecticut and New York to examine a dead raccoon. "I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a roadkilled raccoon, thinking how weird some of my family members have turned out to be," his diary read, per Vincent's book.

As he examined the raccoon carcass, he added, “my kids waited patiently in the car.”

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