The video shows him with a butterfly net trying to scoop the venomous snake into a bucket, with one instance showing him trying to push the snake into the net with his hand unsuccessfully.
A few days after a video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. subduing a pair of racer snakes in Florida went viral, the health and human services secretary posted another video of him wrangling a Western diamondback rattlesnake in his driveway. The video shows him with a butterfly net trying to scoop the venomous snake into a bucket, with one instance showing him trying to push the snake into the net with his hand unsuccessfully. The snake continued to try and evade capture, his rattle going off incessantly until RFK Jr. finally got the snake into the bucket.
In response to the many comments about venomous snakes, this video shows how Cheryl and I handled a recent rattlesnake rescue. pic.twitter.com/3wRIXmQySV
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 27, 2026
It was a messy and potentially dangerous capture, but what he did next was super unnecessary. Kennedy then proceeded to dump the snake out of the bucket and subdued the snake with a spatula to the head. He then applied pressure to the head and picked the snake up so it couldn’t bite him just to show the length of the snake, if for nothing else. “Beautiful Western diamondback rattlesnake,” he said. The next clip shows Kennedy releasing the snake back into some brush. Kennedy obviously lives in an area with plenty of snakes, so it might be wise that he invest in a snake hook or at least a better net.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Removes Black Racer Snakes From Dr. Oz’s Patio
The United States Health and Human Services Secretary is no stranger to handling reptiles. During his short-lived campaign for president in 2024, Kennedy was recorded untangling a gopher snake that was ensnared in some plastic netting at his daughter’s friend’s house. And in 2013, Kennedy and his brother Max rescued a leatherback sea turtle that was tangled in a buoy line in Nantucket Sound. That rescue got the National Marine Fisheries Service involved as the Kennedy brothers apparently violated the Endangered Species Act when they rescued it because they didn’t have a permit to do so.
