Story About RFK Jr., Dead Whale Causes Uproar

Claim that he once cut a whale's head off with a chainsaw first surfaced in 2012
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 28, 2024 2:30 AM CDT
Group Wants RFK Jr. Probed Over Whale Carcass Story
FILE - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to reporters at the Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, N.Y. on Aug. 21, 2024.   (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, Pool)

The strange stories allegedly about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. keep coming. The latest involves a whale carcass, and was originally reported more than a decade ago, but just resurfaced, the New York Times reports. Back in 2012, Kennedy's daughter, Kick Kennedy, told Town & Country her father had once used a chainsaw to remove the head of a dead whale he found washed up on a beach in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, during a family vacation. She said he attached it to the roof of their car with a bungee cord and drove it back to their New York home. She cited her father's "eccentric environmentalism" and interest in animal skeletons as his reason for doing so, the Guardian reports.

Since the article resurfaced in various publications over the last few days, the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund is calling for federal authorities to probe the alleged incident. The progressive environmental organization says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should investigate whether any wildlife conservation laws were broken. "Normally, an unverified anecdote would not provide sufficient evidence as the basis for conducting an investigation," the group says, but a previous story about RFK Jr. and a dead bear cub "made it seem like this was normal behavior for him, so he may also possess additional illegally collected wildlife parts." (More Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stories.)

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