RFK Jr sparks health warning after posting pictures from Mothers' Day hike with his grandkids
Robert F. Kennedy Junior has shared pictures of himself and his grandchildren swimming in a DC creek that is contaminated with feces.
Authorities warn that Rock Creek, used to drain excess sewage and storm water in heavy rainfall, is positively teeming with E.coli and other dangerous bacteria.
But the Health Secretary, 71, still took a dip in it with his grandchildren this Mother's Day apparently unaware of the danger.
He shared photos of the swim online, showing himself in the water with his jeans on and, at one point, fully submerged.
His grandchildren paddled in the water nearby, and one was photographed splashing him with the water.
The National Park Service, which manages the Creek, warns online: 'Rock Creek has high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading and other contact with the water a hazard to human health.
'Please protect yourself and your pooches by staying on trails and out of the creek.'
It adds in the advisory: 'All District waterways are subject to a swim ban — this means wading, too!'
Rock Creek, which runs through Dumbarton Oaks Park in the city, has had a swim-ban in place because of the sewage for at least 50 years.
Sampling of water running through Rock Creek in September last year, the latest available, revealed an E.coli level in the water of 285 per 100 milliliters.
The World Health Organization suggests that any count over 10 per sample is 'low risk', while any over 100 is 'medium risk'. It says it is best for water to contain no E.coli.
The Health Secretary shared images of himself taking the dip on Sunday with the caption: 'Mother's Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with Amaryllis, Bobby, Kick and Jackson, and a swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat and Cassius, in Rock Creek.'
His post on X has since had a warning placed onto it, that reads: 'Swimming in Rock Creek is dangerous and prohibited by the National Park Service, as the creek contains dangerously high bacteria levels.'
Some followers were quick to point out that the water around DC is dangerous and can be contaminated with bacteria.
But others heralded him for taking a dip, and applauded his 'healthy and happy family'.
DailyMail.com has contacted the White House for comment.
It's just the latest in a series of peculiar incidents related to RFK's outdoors personality.
Previously, his family members have said RFK decapitated a whale carcass in 1994 after its bodywashed up on a beach near Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
His daughter Kick told Town and Country magazine in 2012: '[He] ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale's head and then bungee-corded it to the roof of the family minivan for the five-hour haul back to Mount Kisco, New York.'
She added: 'Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet.'
RFK has also recounted how he once dumped a dead bear cub in New York's Central Park in 2014.
And on the campaign trail, the then Presidential hopeful told crowds how he had a dead worm lodged in his brain.
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