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An Arizona environmental group is calling for an investigation into former 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over recently resurfaced claims he decapitated a dead whale on a Cape Cod beach and drove it to his home five hours away on the roof of his minivan.
In a letter to the director of NOAA’s Fisheries Office of Protected Resources, the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund asked the office to look into whether the one-time environmental lawyer had potentially violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act or the Endangered Species Act in or around 1994.
“RFK Jr. cutting off the head of a dead whale was both bizarre and illegal, and any serious environmental attorney would know better,” said the fund’s national political director, Brett Hartl. “Kennedy may think that his name and privilege mean the rules don’t apply to him, but if he had a shred of integrity left he’d surrender this whale skull and any other illegally collected wildlife parts to the authorities.”
The organization cited a 2012 report from Town & Country magazine, in which RFK Jr’s daughter, Kick Kennedy, recalled the strange story. She said that, when she was 6 years old, her family discovered a dead whale that had washed up on Cape Cod’s Squaw Island, where former President John F. Kennedy once had a house.
RFK Jr allegedly ran down to the beach with a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head, and strapped it to the roof of the family’s minivan with a bungee cord — then drove it five hours to their Mount Kisco, New York, home.
“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,” Kick, now 36, said. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”
Hartl wrote that under normal circumstances the anecdote “would not provide sufficient evidence” to open an investigation.
“However, Mr. Kennedy has admitted that he has recklessly — and with no regard to legal requirements — taken other species of wildlife for his own personal benefit,” he said.
Just weeks before the whale story re-emerged, Kennedy — a notorious vaccine skeptic who ditched his independent bid for president last week and endorsed Donald Trump — came under fire for admitting to taking a dead bear cub from the side of a Hudson Valley road and dumping its body in Central Park in 2014. A photo featured in an August profile of the former presidential candidate in The New Yorker shows Kennedy posing with the dead black bear in the back of a van, pretending it was trying to bite his hand.
While the species of whale involved in the Cape Cod incident remains unknown, the fund said that under regulations from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is unlawful for “any person to possess any marine mammal, or product therefrom, taken in violation of the Act or these regulation.”
“Furthermore, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Endangered Species Act protects all individuals of Humpback Whale, Blue Whale, Fin Whale, Sei Whale, Sperm Whale, and North Atlantic Right Whale. And similar to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to collect any endangered wildlife species for any reason without a permit,” Hartl said.
Transporting the whale head from Massachusetts to New York, he added, could amount to a felony violation of the Lacey Act, one of the earliest wildlife conservation laws. The act prohibits the transport of any wildlife — dead or alive — that was illegally taken into a person’s possession in violation of any state, federal, or international regulation or law.
Hartl said that research opportunities are lost when people scavenge wildlife carcasses, pointing out that the only way scientists can learn about beaked whales is when their bodies wash up on the shore. While beaked whales are not endangered, two species are considered to be “near threatened.”
Whale strandings have become more frequent in recent years. Scientists are still working to figure out why, but many whales are killed by boat collisions. Underwater noise pollution can also be an issue for whales, which rely on sound to communicate, find food, and avoid predators. Scientists also suggest that whale pods follow the distress calls of those that have been beached. Some whales can just get lost or become trapped by strong ocean tides, as well.
Last year, NOAA Fisheries reported unusual mortality events for whales on both coasts. The agency said that, since January 2016, elevated humpback whale mortalities have occurred from Maine to Florida. Both Massachusetts and New York saw 45 such events through last year. The North Atlantic right whale has also been suffering a spike in deaths, and both species are endangered. This year, Massachusetts has seen at least three whale deaths since March. Whale strandings typically occur year-round.
Given all that, it is not unthinkable that the Kennedys could have stumbled upon a beached whale, though RFK Jr has yet to confirm the story himself.
On Thursday, he wrote on social media that he is an “old-school environmentalist” and a “lover and protector of nature.”
“The Democrats obsess about counting CO2, while neglecting urgent issues such as the chemicals in our food, soil, and water. Ironically, many carbon-motivated environmental policies actually harm the environment. Offshore wind damages marine animals, especially whales,” he said.
Hartl told The Independent on Wednesday that he does not expect to see a response from Kennedy or NOAA.
The fund said it hopes that the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement ensures Kennedy surrenders any and all illegally obtained wildlife, including the whale skull. They also asked the agency to consider any appropriate civil and criminal penalties.
