Falconry, Unusual Pets
& Catching Snakes for Fun!
Far beyond the mainstream media’s intentionally misleading stories of bears and brain-worms RFK Jr.’s connection to animals and the natural world is very soulful as well as humorous and inspiring. His connection to unique pets as well as animals in their natural habitats is as eclectic as it is deep-rooted.
One of his longest and deepest-running passions is his involvement in the world of falconry. At the age of 11, he became one of the youngest licensed falconers in the U.S., developing a profound understanding of birds of prey and honing the skill of training falcons, which became a central part of his bond with the natural world.
Growing up in the Kennedy family, Bobby and his siblings were surrounded by a menagerie of unusual pets. Among the most famous was "Sandy," the family's pet sea lion, who swam in the family's saltwater pool at Hickory Hill, their Virginia estate. This set the tone for a childhood filled with exotic animals, further nurturing the Kennedy children’s curiosity about the natural world.
More remarkable examples of Bobby’s penchant for unusual pets range from his high school pet lion, Mtoto, to an emu that he gifted to actress Cheryl Hines and her daughter.
Both were pets that quickly grew from small and cute to big and more than a little dangerous.
And perhaps Bobby's most adventurous animal-related hobby, which has persisted throughout his life, is his fascination with wrangling snakes, especially venomous ones. Despite several close calls, his intimate understanding of wildlife behavior has allowed him to continue this daring hobby through Africa and the Americas.
RFK Jr’s connection to animals, whether through birds of prey, sea lions, lions, or snakes is a core part of his spirituality and connection to the wider natural world.
Check out more of these stories below!
RFK & Falconry
When RFK Jr. was eleven-years-old he read The Once and Future King, T.H. White’s classic book about the King Arthur legend. A chapter about falconry particularly caught his attention and triggered his interest in raising and training birds (that and the encouragement of his father’s Arab friend Alva Mai Nye) – and Bobby’s enthusiasm for the art and practice of Falconry has continued on for the nearly sixty years since then!
Bobby is now an official master falconer and a State-licensed bird rehabilitator who has healed and released dozens of injured birds over the decades. And if he wasn’t already doing enough already during the days of his environmental activism work in the '90s RFK Jr. even wrote the New York state falconer’s exam manual.
Eleven-year-old RFK Jr. actually started out by raising ducks, pheasants and homing pigeons, and then moved up to falconry proper with red-tailed hawks at age twelve.
Then when he was fourteen Bobby chose to attend New York’s Milbrook school largely because they offered falconry programs. There he and friends bonded over their shared interest as they trained hawks, banded and went on the hunt with them.
"The falcons Bobby trained to land on his arm were, in a mythological sense, emblematic. Falcons had been worshiped since earliest times as cosmic deities; the Egyptian god Horus is depicted as a falcon wearing a cobra-headed crown. The falcon came to represent the fight against our fears as well as being a metaphor for clear vision."
- Dick Russel, page 146, The Real RFK Jr. by Dick Russel
A Great video about RFK Jr's connection to animals and his deep spirituality - an excerpt from the new film The Real RFK JR. http://therealrfkjrmovie.com/
A short video about RFK Jr's history with Falconry in particular.
RFK Jr. & His Family's UNUSUAL PETS!
Over a lifetime of fascination with nature and the incredible diversity of creatures living within it Bobby has unsurprisingly had a number of unusual pets. At their 1960s-era Hickory Hill home in Virginia RFK, Ethel and the kids were privileged to have a variety of pets - including the fairly usual such as dogs, horses and goats - but some rather unique pets as well.
JFK and the Ill-Fated Salamander
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Bobby's Pet Lion Mtoto
One of the earliest and most dramatic examples of this pattern of unique pets was a lion cub RFK Jr. was given while still a mid-teen and attending Millbrook high school. He named his new lion cub friend Mtoto (or Toto) Mbaya, meaning “Bad Boy” in Swahili. Mtoto was a gift from Kennedy family friend, the popular talk-show host Jack Paar who had rescued Toto and his cub siblings from being euthanized after they were used in the movie Born Free.
Toto was only ten weeks old when he joined Bobby and was able to stay in the Millbrook campus zoo, but he soon grew to 130 pounds, heavier than Bobby himself. One day as the young RFK Jr. was walking the lion through the zoo, Toto took off after a deer and dragged Bobby along after him holding desperately to the leash.
After the deer mauling incident it was decided that Toto more properly belonged at Florida’s Lion Country Safari Park.
The Pet Emu 'Toby'
Another, more recent unusual pet was Tobias an Emu – or rather ‘Toby’ the Emu – his less formal name. Apparently soon after Cheryl and Bobby started dating he bought Toby for Cheryl’s daughter to make a good impression.
At first Cheryl was impressed as Toby was initially about waist-height and kind of cute. But soon he grew to over six-feet and started to regularly get aggressive towards her as well as other people.
Cheryl started to really dislike the emu. RFK Jr. recalls coming home after work and finding Cheryl looking up the ‘life expectancy of emus’ on the computer. Eventually she apparently gave him an ultimatum ‘It’s me or the emu’. But before the emu drama seriously damaged their relationship it was attacked and eaten by a wild mountain lion.
https://youtu.be/hykDK80uviU?si=FRCl7oYbLZXSUV80
and here's a clip about when the Emu attacked Cheryl!
The Kennedy Family's Pet Sea Lion
Many of the Skakels (RFK Jr's mother Ethel’s maiden name) were outdoors-people and when one of them ended up catching a bunch of sea-lions Ethel and each of her siblings ended up receiving a surprise gift: a baby sea-lion in a crate!
Bobby recalls the sea lion – who they named ‘Sandy’ – showing up one Christmas day at their Hickory Hill home in Virginia when he was around age 6 or 7.
Sandy ended up staying with the family for a couple of years and mainly lived in the family swimming pool.
RFK Jr. described there being fish all over the yard and how Sandy the sea lion also liked to run with the family’s dogs. One day the local milkman told the family how surprised he was to have seen a sea lion walking down the street together with the Kennedy’s six dogs!
Eventually in 1959, RFK Sr. donated Sandy to the National Zoo where by all reports he went on to live a happy life with the other seals there.
A brief video RFK Jr. interview about Sandy:
https://youtu.be/FLdrh-tkBNo?si=l6G1MqaU16diXEV8
And a fun Smithsonian Archive's article with more details:
https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/mom-can-we-keep-him-ummm-no
SNAKE CATCHING!
Arguably the most dangerous of RFK Jr’s unusual animal connections is his habit of snake catching. While I couldn’t tell you exactly how long he’s been doing this, the hobby certainly has its origins in his early fascination with nature and wildlife.
Bobby’s snake-nabbing hobby really got going during his early times staying in Africa in the 1970s. He became directly acquainted with several species, including the black mamba, known for its aggressive nature and potent venom, which adds to the level of danger involved.
Back in the U.S., RFK Jr. is known to catch various species of snakes native to North America, including garter snakes, copperheads, and rattlesnakes. His ability to handle venomous species like the rattlesnake demonstrates both his respect for the animals and the careful, calculated risk he takes when interacting with them.
His environmental ethos shines through clearly in his practice of typically releasing the snakes in habitats where they can thrive without posing a danger to people.
Another incident during his African travels occurred when he caught a puff adder, one of the continent’s most dangerous vipers. These snakes are responsible for many fatalities due to their highly cytotoxic venom and tendency to strike without warning. RFK Jr. has discussed this encounter, noting the level of caution required when dealing with such a potentially lethal reptile.
“I’ve always had a deep fascination with reptiles, particularly snakes. There’s something about their movement, their power, that has always drawn me to them. I’m careful, of course, but handling them gives me a kind of connection to the natural world that few other things can.”
- RFK Jr.
https://youtu.be/Lswc_emf7vU?si=TLll2bAGB5fC7q9k
https://youtu.be/K3R2r5s-j8s?si=e3v3G5EX9TUZ7aUh
From his Wife Cheryl Hines' FaceBook page:
And Bobby’s daring but calculated catching of real snakes is of course a great metaphor for his decades-long dedication to foiling and punishing corrupt corporations such as Monsanto and other mass polluters as well as his long running struggle to reform the captured government agencies and the ultra-powerful medical-military-industrial complex most responsible for the poisoning of American’s health.
