A video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrangling two snakes bare-handed captured the internet’s fascination Tuesday, the latest animal encounter the U.S. health secretary has shared publicly that has sparked intrigue and in some cases concern.
Kennedy shared the clip of himself grabbing the tails of the non-venomous black racer snakes on his personal social media accounts, noting in the caption that he was removing them from the patio of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.
An avid outdoorsman, Kennedy has posted numerous photos and videos over the years of himself interacting with wild animals. He's also shared tales of such interactions, including admitting once planting a bear carcass in New York's Central Park as a prank.
Internet users reacted with joy, incredulity and outcry at Kennedy's latest clip, which shows the snakes biting in the direction of his fingers as Oz asks questions about the snakes. Kennedy’s wife, actress Cheryl Hines, can be heard saying “Why?” and telling her husband to let them go.
Herpetologists said the species in the clip is largely harmless to humans, even if it bites. But they said people should be mindful of the stress that handling snakes can put on the creatures, and to avoid grabbing them by the tails as Kennedy does in the video, because it can cause injuries to their spines.
“That is not how I would handle the snakes, but I’m a trained professional,” said Bonnie Keller, a herpetologist and former board member of the Virginia Herpetological Society.
Sean McKnight, director of programs at the nonprofit Rattlesnake Conservancy, said he encourages people to minimize the duration that they’re handling any kind of wildlife, because they are “potentially stressing out the animals more than needed.”
Earlier this month, Kennedy posted a snapshot of himself holding a bird in his enclosed hand in what he wrote was the rescue of a starling at Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.
In 2024, while running for president, he posted a video of himself using a small net and a trowel to capture a rattlesnake in his California driveway. In that video, he cautiously secures the venomous snake in his bare hands and displays its fangs to the camera. McKnight said he doesn’t advise anybody to handle rattlesnakes like that, because there’s no way to restrain them safely with your hands.
Also in 2024, Kennedy generated criticism when he admitted to taking a bear carcass from the side of the road and placing it in Central Park as a prank in 2014. He said at the time that he had been picking up roadkill his “whole life” and once had a “freezer full of it” at home. His campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear, now a top adviser at the nation's health department, said roadkill was how Kennedy, a longtime falconer, fed his birds.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as US. Attorney Daniel Rosen listens, at right, during a press conference Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting after he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanon-militant group through mediators.
Trump announced the development in a social media post following a call with Netanyahu, whose forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter-century. Trump there would be no Israeli troops "going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.”
The president said Hezbollah had "agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”
Moments after his message, Israel detected missile launches from Lebanon and warned Israelis in part of northern Israel to take cover in protected spaces.
Trump's comments emerged after Israel’s government ordered strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut and as Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, including the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa.
A joint statement by Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the orders to attack targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs followed what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and “attacks against our cities and citizens.”
The Israeli military's Arabic spokesman later posted on X that residents should leave the suburbs, adding that if Hezbollah continues attacking Israeli communities, Israel will launch attacks on the area known in Arabic as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.
Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on Israel when the ceasefire was signed in mid-April, but the militant group resumed the assaults after Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterized as self-defense. The fighting also presents a major obstacle in the emerging deal to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war. Tehran wants any agreement to include Lebanon.
After Monday's warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the suburb.
Mohammed Farhat, 23, fled with his brother and parents from Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik and was heading with his mother on a motorcycle to stay with relatives in another neighborhood.
“We are worried. I am used to it but left for my parents,” the university student said.
Israeli airstrikes overnight on southern Lebanon left six people dead, including a Syrian citizen in a village near the city of Nabatiyeh, the state-run National News Agency said. Israel struck other towns and villages near the major city, close to the strategic Beaufort Castle and other towns the Israeli military captured in recent days.
An airstrike Monday afternoon in the port city of Tyre caused heavy damage to the Jabal Amel Hospital, the Health Ministry said. A video released by the ministry showed shaken women and children inside the hospital, where windows were blown out.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its air force had intercepted two projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, as well as a suspicious aerial target in the area where Israeli soldiers operate in southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported, the military said.
Hezbollah said it carried out rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel on Sunday. It said early Monday it attacked Israeli troops in Zawtar al-Sharqieh, just north of the Litani River, and struck what they said was Israeli military infrastructure in Tiberius, a few dozen miles south of the border.
The latest attacks came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just before Lebanon and Israel hold their next round of direct talks in Washington starting Tuesday. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran, which has demanded an end to the war in Lebanon in its talks with Washington.
The talks between officials from Israel and Lebanon, which began in April in Washington, were the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.
Lebanese officials have been scrambling in diplomatic calls, including with Washington, in a desperate bid to push back Israel’s military escalation after Netanyahu’s announcement, a Lebanese diplomatic official said. Beirut is still committed to holding talks to end the conflict despite the boiling tensions, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted Monday that any ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran is a “ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon."
“Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts," Iran's top diplomat said in a post on X.
Beirut, the Lebanese capital, has been mostly spared from airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect, apart from two targeted attacks on the city's southern suburbs in May.
The German development minister, Reem Alabali Radovan, had planned to visit Beirut on Monday to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and other officials, but she called off the visit while traveling to the city, citing the possibility of Israeli strikes in the suburbs.
Saudi Arabia condemned Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, saying it “categorically rejects” Israel’s movement into the small Mediterranean nation. The Saudi Foreign Ministry called on the international community to prevent Israel from going deeper into Lebanon.
A U.S. official said late Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Aoun and Netanyahu to propose a fresh path to continue ongoing negotiations, as Trump weighs a tentative ceasefire extension with Iran.
Under the proposal, Hezbollah would halt all attacks on Israel, and Israel would refrain from escalating military operations in Beirut, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations.
The official said Aoun was open to the idea but that Lebanese parliament chief Nabih Berri had responded by demanding that Israel first stop all military action.
The official said the Trump administration does not expect Israel to give up retaliating for Hezbollah strikes on its territory.
Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said in a statement Sunday that he can guarantee the militant group’s “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire.” Berri added: “But who will force Israel to stop its aggression?”
Aoun on Monday said in comments released by his office that Lebanon faces "a fierce and condemned Israeli aggression.” Aoun added that his government continues work to end “the suffering of the Lebanese in general and the southerners in particular.”
Later, the president issued a statement reiterating Beirut's commitment to negotiations, saying it is “safer” than war."
“It will not solve the problem within moments, but it is a process that needs time," he said. “And we have no other choice.”
Elsewhere, the United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Lebanon for Monday afternoon.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,433 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.
Israel’s military said a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon overnight in a drone attack by Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.
According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 26 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.
Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
A person walks past the site struck by a rocket fired from Lebanon on Saturday in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A family flees following an Israeli threat to strike Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A view of he Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
