Another day in Florida: RFK Jr posts video of him wrestling two snakes

Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on Tuesday added to his lengthening catalog of bizarre wild animal encounters by posting to social media a video of himself in Florida wrestling with two snakes.

Kennedy, who has previously admitted dumping the carcass of a bear cub in New York’s Central Park, and is also alleged to have cut the penis of a road-kill raccoon, is seen grabbing the pair of serpents with his bare hands.

His wife, Cheryl Hines, is heard urging her husband to be careful as Kennedy shows them off to the camera, then recoils as one rears up and appears to bite his hand.

“Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio,” the post states. It refers to both the species of snake, and where the video was captured, believed to be the Palm Beach waterfront mansion belonging to Mehmet Oz, the controversial celebrity medic now serving as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Non-venomous southern black racers are the most common species of snake in Florida, and are known for their speed and agility. They are harmless to humans.

It is not clear when the 49-second recording was made, or what happened to the snakes.

A voice that sounds like Oz surmises the snakes were having sex, then queries if they were fighting. Kennedy, in a blue shirt and tie, laughs as he handles the pair together, well back from their heads, in his right hand, then veers back in apparent pain as one of the snakes rises up and strikes his left.

“You’re nuts,” a female voice says.

Kennedy’s prior dealings with the animal kingdom have become a rich source of curiosity and controversy. An article last month in The Week lists six separate encounters, including a 2014 episode in which he admitted finding a dead bear cub on a road trip and putting it in his van with a plan to skin it and eat it later.

He said he dumped the animal in Manhattan’s Central Park when he ran out of time before a flight, and placed a bicycle on top of it in the hope of framing a cyclist.

Last month, in an equally outlandish story, it emerged from the newly published biography that he had mutilated the carcass of a raccoon he found dead on a New York highway in 2001.