RFK Jr admits dumping bear carcass in New York's Central Park
In a video posted on X, RFK Jr confessed to dumping a dead bear cub in New York's Central Park in 2014.
- Published
Robert F Kennedy Jr has recounted how he dumped a dead bear cub in New York's Central Park in 2014.
The clip, posted on X account on Sunday, shows the independent presidential candidate describing to US actress Roseanne Barr the incident that mystified New Yorkers 10 years ago.
Mr Kennedy said a woman had killed the bear with her car when he was driving outside the city, and he put it in his van with the intention of harvesting its meat.
He shared the anecdote as the New Yorker magazine published a story about the incident on Monday.
According to the New Yorker, external, Mr Kennedy was "tickled" by the discovery of the bear while heading to a falconry outing in the rural Hudson River Valley.
An image included in the article shows Mr Kennedy grimacing with his hand inside the dead bear's mouth after he loaded the carcass in the back of his car.
The magazine quoted an anonymous source as saying that Mr Kennedy "thought it would be funny to make it look like an errant cyclist" had killed it.
The account is broadly similar to the one provided by Mr Kennedy on Sunday.
In his video, Mr Kennedy tells Barr that he was driving to go falcon-hunting near Goshen, New York in 2014 when the bear was killed.
"I was going to skin the bear... and I was going to put the meat in my refrigerator," he says. "And you can do that in New York state: Get a bear tag for a roadkill bear."
New York state allows for roadkill to be taken, but authorities must be notified. Mr Kennedy does not appear to have done that.
Instead, he says he continued to his falconry event, then went on to dinner at Peter Luger Steakhouse in New York City, about 75 miles (121km) south of Goshen.
"At the end of the dinner, it was late and I realised I couldn't go home," Mr Kennedy says. "I had to go to the airport, and the bear was in my car, and I didn't want to leave the bear in my car because that would have been bad."
That is when, he says, it occurred to him that there had been a series of bicycle accidents in New York and that he had an old bicycle in his car.
"We thought it would be amusing for whoever found it," he says.
"The next day... it was on every television station. It was a front page of every paper and I turned on the TV and there was like a mile of yellow tape and 20 cop cars, there were helicopters flying, and I was like, 'Oh my God. What did I do?'"
He then notes that a fact-checker from the New Yorker called him and asked whether he was involved, which appears to have prompted him to release this video.
The bear's corpse was discovered by a woman walking her dog, The New York Times said in its 2014 story, external. The carcass had been placed under some bushes and an abandoned bicycle.
New York's Department of Environmental Conservation told the BBC on Monday that an investigation determined the bear had died from a high-speed collision. It added that charges cannot be brought for incidents more than a year old.
The Times' story from 2014 was written by a one of Mr Kennedy's relatives - Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of former president John F Kennedy.
Mr Kennedy's story comes as support for his presidential campaign has dwindled to single digits in polls since Kamala Harris entered the race for the Democrats.
He maintains that he has no intention of ending his presidential bid.
More on US election
SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote
SWING STATES: Where the election could be won and lost
EXPLAINER: RFK Jr and others running for president