ReutersRobert F. Kennedy Jr. faces calls from environmentalists for an investigation into historic allegations that he used a chainsaw to cut off the head of a stranded whale and took it home on the roof of his car.
A group supporting Kamala Harris’ presidential bid said Mr. Kennedy may have violated the law by allegedly removing and transporting whale skulls.
Mr. Kennedy, 70, has not commented on the incident his daughter detailed in an interview 12 years ago.
The call for an investigation comes days after he suspended his independent presidential campaign, which has been fraught with bizarre twists and turns, including his admission that he once discarded the carcass of a dead bear in New York’s Central Park.
Mr. Kennedy has now endorsed Donald Trump for president and will be included in the Republican candidate’s transition team if elected.
Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy told Town & Country magazine in 2012 about the whale-head incident, which dates back to around 1994.
Mr. Kennedy was said to enjoy studying animal skulls and skeletons, and he reportedly heard that dead animals washed up in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where the family lived.
He went to the beach and chopped off the head with a chainsaw before tying it to the roof of the family’s minivan with bungee cords. Ms. Kennedy said the family then drove back to their home in New York.
Ms. Kennedy told the magazine: “Every time we speed down the highway, whale juice pours out of the car windows and it’s the stinkiest thing on earth.”
“We all had plastic bags over our heads and the mouths were cut off and people on the highway were giving us the middle finger, but it was just a normal, everyday thing for us.”
The Center for Biodiversity Action Fund, which has publicly endorsed Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for president, has called for an investigation.
The group wrote a letter laying out their case to marine conservation officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). The BBC has contacted NOAA for comment.
U.S. media quoted the letter as saying that Kennedy may have violated multiple federal laws by collecting and transporting wildlife body parts across state lines.
“When people feed on dead wildlife and interfere with scientists’ work, important research opportunities are lost,” wrote Brett Hartle, the group’s political director.
Mr Hartle added: “This is particularly true for marine mammals, which are among the most difficult wildlife species in the world to study.”
Noah has not publicly acknowledged receipt of the letter or commented, nor has Mr. Kennedy. The BBC has contacted his campaign for comment.
Earlier this year, Mr. Kennedy’s average approval rating in presidential preference surveys as an independent candidate was about 15 percent.
His speech blended anti-establishment and anti-corporate rhetoric with liberal social positions, environmentalism and controversial vaccine skepticism.
But his support dwindled and he announced last week that he was suspending his campaign.
Although he initially competed to win the Democratic nomination, he ended up criticizing his former party and endorsing Donald Trump. The move dismayed his relatives, one of the most prominent families in Democratic politics.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign generated a series of bizarre and scandalous headlines.
In May, The New York Times published an article revealing that he had told attorneys involved in divorce proceedings in 2012 that he suffered from memory problems linked to a fatal brain parasite.
In mid-July, after Vanity Fair magazine published an article alleging that Mr. Kennedy made unwanted sexual advances toward a former family nanny, Mr. Kennedy texted her to apologize. “I have no memory of this incident, but I sincerely apologize for anything I did to make you uncomfortable,” he wrote.
In comments to the press, he said the Vanity Fair article contained a lot of “rubbish,” but admitted he had a “very, very violent youth” and that he was “not a church boy.”
Earlier this month, Mr Kennedy was filmed speaking to actress Roseanne Barr about an incident with the dead cub in 2014.
He said a woman killed the bear in her car while he was driving in a rural area and he put it in his van with the original intention of harvesting its meat.
But ultimately he thought it would be “fun” to leave the body in New York’s Central Park to make it appear that an errant cyclist had killed it. The bear was spotted the next day.
In response to the BBC’s request for comment, New York’s Department of Environmental Protection said it would not file charges in incidents more than a year old.
