What Snake Was RFK Jr. Trying to Catch On Dr Oz's Patio? Questions Grew Over Whether It Was Highly Venomous

The US Health Secretary grabbed two mating wild snakes with his bare hands, got bitten, and sparked a debate over species identification, all while his wife pleaded for him to stop.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, uploaded a video to X on 26 May 2026 that swiftly went viral, not for its policy implications, but for its sheer spectacle: the 72-year-old cabinet member crouching barefoot on a beachside patio in West Palm Beach, Florida, seizing two large wild snakes in his bare hands as his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, begged him to let them go. The clip, filmed at the Florida mansion of Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr Mehmet Oz, immediately prompted questions online about precisely what species Kennedy had grabbed, and just how dangerous they actually were.

Kennedy captioned the post, 'Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz's patio.' But it was the audio, more than the caption, that captured public attention

'Bobby, Why?' — The Moment That Went Viral

In the footage, Hines is heard repeatedly exclaiming 'Bobby, why?' as Kennedy attempted to snatch the two black snakes cornered on a section of Oz's patio. 'They were having sex. So what were they?' a voice off camera asks, after Kennedy successfully nabbed the wriggling creatures.

As the snakes clamped down on Kennedy, Hines shouted 'Moccasins. Those are dangerous!' Kennedy calmly replied, 'No, they're not moccasins', correctly, as Black Racers are non-venomous.

Kennedy held the snakes up for the camera with a grin as they continued to twist and turn. It took him eight seconds to grab both, and one of the snakes bit him on the finger. 'Honey, honey, let it go,' Hines pleaded at the precise moment the snake struck. 'Oh my God! Bobby, Bobby, please!' Kennedy looked at his finger but did not appear fazed in the slightest.

What Are Black Racer Snakes — And Were They Actually Dangerous?

The species at the centre of the commotion is the Southern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor priapus), one of the most common snakes in Florida. The southern black racer is native to the southeastern United States and is widely found across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina.

Critically, black racer snakes are non-venomous. They are considered timid by nature and are mostly harmless if not attacked or threatened, though they can and do bite in self-defence when cornered. While black racer bites are non-venomous, they can still hurt and, as with any animal bite, carry a risk of infection.

The confusion that Hines voiced, mistaking the Black Racer for a cottonmouth, or water moccasin, is a surprisingly common error. The cottonmouth, known scientifically as Agkistrodon piscivorus, is a dark-bodied, aquatic, thick-set snake with vertical pupils and is highly venomous. It is a species that Black Racers are sometimes mistaken for in low light. The two species are not closely related, and an experienced handler would distinguish them readily, though to an untrained eye, a large, dark snake moving quickly in a corner could understandably cause alarm.

Breeding season for the southern black racer runs from March through June in Central Florida, making the timing of Kennedy's encounter entirely consistent with the mating behaviour observed on Oz's patio.

A Cabinet Member With a History of Wildlife Encounters

The snake video is far from Kennedy's first documented encounter with wild animals. In 2024, Kennedy admitted he had been driving through the Hudson Valley to take a group of people falconing when a driver in front of him fatally struck a bear cub. Kennedy pulled over, placed the cub's carcass in the back of his van, and said he planned to skin it and refrigerate the meat. He later dumped the bear's body in Central Park, staging it to look as though a cyclist had struck the animal, a mystery that had baffled New York law enforcement for a decade.

Kennedy subsequently told reporters he had been 'picking up roadkill his whole life' and that he keeps a freezer full of it, adding that the practice serves a purpose: he is a falconer who trains ravens and keeps two as pets, and uses roadkill to feed his birds.

In 2012, Kennedy's daughter Kick revealed in a magazine interview that her father had cut off the head of a whale that had washed ashore at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, when she was a child. The pattern suggests a man with a deep, if unconventional, comfort with wild animals, one that has followed him from environmental advocacy into the highest levels of government.

The Make America Healthy Again Action account on X also shared the video, writing: 'RFK Jr. removes a pair of snakes from Dr Oz's patio in a way only he could.' The response online was split between admiration and bewilderment, with one X user writing, 'Say what you want about RFK Jr. He's a f***ing badass,' and another noting drily, 'We are getting updates on RFK Jr. and instead of golf he opted to catch neighbourhood snakes.'

The video has, at minimum, confirmed one thing: the US Health Secretary's relationship with the natural world remains entirely his own.