The head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) posted about the blood-letting adventure on X<\/a>, writing ‘Lampreys hickeys at the Nez Perce salmon hatchery’ while showing off pictures of the experience.<\/p>\n Lampreys are jawless fish that look like eels but are a completely different species.\u00a0<\/p>\n They have a round, sucker-like mouth full of sharp teeth that they use to latch onto other fish and suck their blood for nourishment.<\/p>\n Not content with just one hickey, however, RFK Jr held the roughly two-foot-long lampreys as they sucked blood from both his arms, his wrists, and another person nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is no medical or scientific reason for letting a lamprey bite him, leaving many to question the bizarre stunt.<\/p>\n The animal’s bites can cause injury, infections, or even significant blood loss with prolonged contact. They aren\u2019t used in any therapeutic treatments.<\/p>\n On Thursday,\u00a0Robert F Kennedy Jr let lampreys, a parasitic fish, bite him multiple times in Idaho<\/p>\n RFK Jr stood for photos as the creatures gave him ‘a hickey’ according to his X account<\/p>\n One of the fish parasitic lampreys feed on in the wild are salmon, and\u00a0Indigenous tribes in the Pacific Northwest consider the vampire-like fish a food substitute when salmon supplies run low.<\/p>\n RFK’s visit to the hatchery aimed at promoting the health and well-being of tribal communities by\u00a0discussing the importance of traditional foods, like salmon and lampreys.<\/p>\n The health secretary shared the images on his X account, where users many of his supporters applauded the move.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Bro you wild. I like it though, keep it up,’ one X user commented.\u00a0<\/p>\n Others welcomed RFK JR to Idaho, with one saying: ‘Hey you are in my hood! Idaho is beautiful right?!’<\/p>\n However, this is\u00a0just one of several odd run-ins the HHS secretary has had with nature, and with parasites specifically.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2012, it was revealed that RFK Jr had a worm in his brain that ate a portion of it before dying<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The incident reportedly took place two years early, leading to brain fog and issues with short-term memory.<\/p>\n Lampreys (pictured) have sucker-like mouths full of teeth that latch on to other fish and draw blood<\/p>\n RFK Jr let the creatures bite him on both arms and wrists and also let one bite another person standing nearby<\/p>\n RFK Jr held multiple 2-foot-long lampreys during his Thursday visit to Idaho, where he\u00a0promoted the health and well-being of tribal communities<\/p>\n RFK Jr said during a 2012 court deposition while he was divorcing his second wife,\u00a0Mary Richardson Kennedy, that doctors initially thought he had a brain tumor.<\/p>\n However, RFK Jr went for a second opinion before surgery and a doctor revealed that the supposed tumor had not grown and was likely a parasite.<\/p>\n ‘They said that this is almost certainly a parasite that got into your brain\u2026 it’s a parasite that’s very common in India where I had done a lot of environmental work,’ RFK Jr said, according to CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n The new health secretary was also at the center of controversy right before the 2024 election, after he confessed to dumping a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park.<\/p>\n![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/100641695-14941309-On_Thursday_Robert_F_Kennedy_Jr_let_lampreys_a_parasitic_fish_bi-a-1_175347548415.jpeg\")
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