I dumped dead bear cub in Central Park, says US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr

WASHINGTON – Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr grossed people out in 2024 with a story about a parasitic worm eating part of his brain. Now he is back with another unusual story: about leaving a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park.

The independent US presidential candidate, conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist made the disclosure in a three-minute video posted Aug 4 on social media as he apparently tried to get out ahead of a New Yorker magazine story that mentions the weird tale of roadkill and stealth from a decade ago.

In the video shot at what looked like a post-meal chat with people including sitcom actress Roseanne Barr, Mr Kennedy recounts the saga: He and friends were on a falconing excursion in New York state in 2014, Mr Kennedy says, when a van ahead of him hit and killed a six-month-old black bear.

The scion of America’s most prominent political family, eager to salvage the carcass for the meat, put it in the back of his own vehicle.

“And you can do that in New York state. You can get a bear tag for roadkill bear,” Mr Kennedy, 70, says in a gravelly voice.

But the falconing field trip ran late, so he could not get the remains back to his home in Westchester County. So did a dinner he attended that evening in the Big Apple, and Mr Kennedy realised he would have to go straight to the airport for a flight he was due to take.

“The bear was in my car, and I didn’t want to leave the bear in the car because that would have been bad,” he says.

After Mr Kennedy and company brainstormed, they took the carcass to iconic Central Park and left it under an old bicycle Mr Kennedy had in his car.

Mr Kennedy said the plan was to make it look like a cyclist had killed the animal, an admission that drew laughter from people in the video.

“I wasn’t drinking, of course, but people were drinking with me... who thought this was a good idea,” he says.

“Then I thought, you know, at that time, this was the little bit of the redneck in me,” the son of the late US Attorney-General Robert F. Kennedy adds.

When the animal’s body was eventually found, it became a huge news story.

“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, what did I do?’ I was worried because my prints were all over that bike,” Mr Kennedy says.

He said the story remained dormant for a decade until a fact-checker from The New Yorker called to verify it for a feature on Mr Kennedy. The piece has yet to be published.

“It’s going to be a bad story,” Mr Kennedy predicts with a laugh. AFP