Environmental group calls for investigation into reported RFK Jr. whale decapitation

An environmental advocacy group called for former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be investigated regarding a resurfaced report in which his daughter, Kick Kennedy, said he cut the head off a dead whale. 

The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund issued a letter Monday, telling the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that it is “illegal to possess any part of an animal, dead or alive,” under both the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act, and that the government agency should open an investigation.

Kennedy’s daughter Kick in 2012 told Town & Country magazine that her father, an environmental lawyer, cut off a whale’s head around 1994 after the mammal washed up on the shore in Hyannis Port, Mass.

The Hill has reached out to Kennedy’s campaign spokesperson for a comment on the story.

The story from Town & Country began to recirculate again this week, days after Kennedy ended his presidential campaign and endorsed former President Trump. The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund pointed to the letter in its submission to NOAA.

In the Town & Country article from 2012, Kick said that her father bungee-corded the animal to the top of his car and drove it across the state line to Mount Kisco, N.Y.

“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 said in the Town & Country piece, initially published in 2012. “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.”

The environmental group called on Kennedy to surrender “any and all illegally obtained wildlife that he continues to possess,” including the whale skull. 

“There are good reasons why it is illegal for any person to collect or keep parts of any endangered species,” the group said in a letter. “Most importantly, vital research opportunities are lost when individuals scavenge a wildlife carcass and interfere with the work of scientists. This is particularly true of marine mammals, which are some of the most difficult wildlife species in the world to study.” 

This is the second bizarre animal story involving Kennedy to emerge this month.

Earlier in August, he said that he dumped a dead bear cub in New York City’s Central Park a decade ago. 

Kennedy, who initially kicked off his 2024 White House run as a Democrat, left the party in October to run as an independent, gaining some traction in national polls. Recently, his poll numbers dropped into the low single digits. He suspended his campaign last week and announced his endorsement of former President Trump.