'Unfounded.' NOAA closes investigation into RFK Jr. whale head claims
A federal investigation into claims that former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed the head of a whale that had washed ashore at Hyannisport's Squaw Island 30 years ago and transported it to his Mount Kisco, New York home has been dropped, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In September, Kennedy acknowledged during a campaign event for former President Donald Trump that he was under investigation by the National Marine Fisheries Services, a division of NOAA, for the alleged 1994 incident.
NOAA spokesperson Katherine Silverstein on Friday confirmed that the agency's Office of Law Enforcement has closed the case.
What started the investigation?
The investigation was instigated in August after a 2012 interview in Town and Country magazine with Kennedy's daughter, Kick Kennedy, resurfaced in which she recollected the whale story from her early childhood — leading the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, an environmental advocacy organization, to send a letter to NOAA requesting an investigation.
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement "takes all reports of alleged violations seriously," Silverstein said in an email, noting that the agency received the letter on Aug. 26 "reporting a possible violation of a federal marine resource law regarding Robert F. Kennedy’s reported collection of a whale skull."
'Unfounded'
"Following standard procedure, the office initiated an investigation into the matter. The office determined the allegation to be unfounded and closed its investigation on Wednesday, Oct. 16," she said.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, according to the conservation organization, "it is illegal to possess any part of an animal, dead or alive, that is protected under either statute." The organization called for the surrender of "any and all illegally obtained wildlife" that could remain in Kennedy's possession, asserting that if he continued to possess any parts of the whale skull it would represent "a significant and ongoing violation of the law."
In the magazine interview, Kick Kennedy, now 36, told the magazine that her father had located the whale's carcass and cut off its head with a chainsaw after he heard it had washed up on Squaw Island, an area of marshland in Hyannisport where a Kennedy family property known as Brambletyde is located. She claimed he had then strapped the whale head to the top of the family's vehicle and transported it to New York.
"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 Kennedy told Town and Country in 2012. She was six years old at the time she claimed the incident took place.
No response from the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund was immediately available Friday.
Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world, in addition to news and features in Barnstable and Brewster. Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Agency closes investigation of RFK Jr. whale head allegations
